Even if Saving You Sends Me to Heaven
by Candra 'wolfgal97
Summary: "Okay, let's cut to the chase. My name is Rhuen and I'm an Guardian angel. I'm on a mission sent from heaven to watch over this idiot over here," I said, using my thumb to gesture behind me at the bleached vampire.
1. The Initiative

**Even If Saving You Sends Me To Heaven**

**By wolfgal97**

My name is Rhuen. I am in Heaven. And I _hate_ it.

I'm allowed to express my hatred now and to act upon it. All Archangels can. And I do. Oh, how I do.

So maybe you want to know my story. Maybe you don't. I don't care, and if you don't either, you're free to leave now. But if you do want to hear it, and I'm only going to tell it once because it's too painful for me to keep reliving, then stick around. I don't have a lot of time. I'm scheduled to be married in a few hours, and this is a very long story.

And no, before you ask, I don't love him. The man I love is dead.

Another warning: my story is also very sad. I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. I'm not going to feed you moral lessons. I'm not going to elaborate in any way because where ever drama is in my life, someone I know gets hurt or dies. It doesn't help the fact I can see it coming and I wasn't allowed to stop it. But that's part of the story.

No, I'm going to tell you the story _exactly_ the way it was. The way _he_ was, because is his story, too. No elaborations at all.

Because I'm tired of all the death.

So where does my story start? Well, to be honest, this all started in the Hell Wars roughly three hundred years ago. Yes, I know that seems like a very long time. And for an angel who was only expected to live thirty years at most, that _is_ a long time. But let me tell you something. When you're happy, hundreds of years go by so fast, it's as if all that mattered never happened at all.

But that was back when I was a Soldier. It's when I became a Guardian that everything changed. But even _they_ are only expected to live as long as their Charge does. Very rarely do angels move up the ranks to become the immortal Archangels.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. You have _no_ idea what any of that meant, did you? And why should you? Not much is known about my kind, my world. You'll learn about everything in time. I just need to get over my rambling and start this. Sorry. I tend to put off unpleasant things.

Like I said, this truly started long, long, _long_ ago, before any of you reading this were born. But to make matters short, I'll give you a little back story and then we'll jump right in.

I guess you wonder what I look like. I guess I should supply you with basic information. Let's start out with I'm short. I'm not talking dwarf size, but yes, I'm not going to be playing professional basketball. I'd say I'm around 5'4? I never really took the time to find out.

So we got my height out of the way. I guess I should go into more detail. Okay. I'm beautiful. I really don't mean that in a vain way, it's just a simple fact. All angels are beautiful. Some, like humans, more than others. Some, in specific ways. I personally only like my longish chocolate brown hair with red flecks of flame that scatter through it when the light shines just right. That and my eyes. No one has eyes like mine. They're silver. No, not stormy grey, I'm talking a gleaming, metal-like silver. Pale like moonlight but sharp as a blade, able to cut through people.

Other than that, I've been told other qualities I possess are ridiculously clear, pale skin that looks smooth like milk. A healthy figure with lean, yet strong muscles. Small nose, full pink lips, dainty ears, white teeth. I think that's enough about me.

That is, unless you want to hear about my wings. As a Soldier, like all others of that class, they had been feathered with unique patterns. Mine had been white fading to silver tips. Soft, graceful, breakable. At least, they were in the Hell Wars. Broken wings are not fun. That's why I was happy to upgrade to Guardian, only at the time, I hadn't known it was happiness. In fact, as a Soldier, I couldn't feel happiness. Or any emotion for that matter.

When I became a Guardian, new wings weren't the only thing I got. But the wings were certainly easier to adjust to. They had become silver, the same color as my eyes. But that wasn't unusual. All Guardians got stronger metallic wings. Those wings had been literally metal. The feathers were light allowing me to fly, but each individual feather was a blade, deadly and sharp. They were my weapons. And oh, how I used them. All the heads I severed as the bodies fell to dust...

But that was after the fall, which is what you need to know about before I can get going. The funny thing is, the second thing I got with the upgrade to Guardian position were abilities which helped me with the third thing I got. Abilities such as seeing the future. Well, _his_ future. It's not like I could see the upcoming lotto numbers. Not that I would... Okay, I would. Sue me.

I also got the ability to form an empathy link with my Charge. Lesson time in angelic vocabulary, kiddies. A Charge is a person, well, entity in my case, which a Guardian is assigned to... well, guard. We protect them. We see their future the way it needs to go and then see the way it's going. It comes in waves to our minds. It's then our job to make sure our Charge, who in every case but mine doesn't know about us, get on the right track.

Now an empathy link is a whole other barrel of monkeys. Soldiers are blank slates having no other emotions than righteous fury. Pfft, what a load of crap, right? Anyway, as a Soldier, I remember knowing nothing but my orders and the battle. We were made to die. That's it for Soldiers. We are made. We fight for good. We die. Well, we just stop existing since we have no souls. Most of us, unless you're an Archangel, don't live long enough to need one.

Because with a soul, you open to emotions. Emotions angels that are not Archangels are not supposed to feel. Emotions so powerful they may blind you from what needs be done. Emotions like love.

But with an empathy link, you feel everything your Charge does. And I mean _everything._ I remember the emotions so overwhelming, they... Well, sometimes I don't want to remember. But just because you have those shiny new emotions bottled up inside you, doesn't mean you get to use then. Without a soul inside them, a Guardian can't show their feelings or act on them. No angel has had a soul in them save but one. Three guesses who that lucky chick is.

But that was my mission I was given before being ripped from the happy home of heaven and helplessly spat out onto earth, a place I had only heard of from Michael, Gabriel and Jex. They had all been my rulers at the time. Their word was my law. Luckily, Michael was like my brother. Jex... he had other motivations.

Anyhow, on my literal fall to Earth, I was enjoying the wonderful sensation of emotions for the first time. Wanna guess what a few of them were? Let's just say it sure as hell wasn't righteous fury. It was more like anguish, misery, pain and a bunch of other fun things that danced like a fire of hatred through my head that first night. But it didn't matter how hurt or mad I was. Like I said, no soul, no expression of emotion. It's a half-life I was forced to live.

So this is my story...

* * *

**Galway, Ireland - 1753 **

One of the things I remember most about my existence was the fall to Earth. Though it only lasted for a few seconds, it seemed like an eternity, and believe me, I know a lot about eternity by now. I fell through clouds and air, the wind whipping my body, the white short dress that stopped just above my knees flew about around me. It wasn't the impact that hurt most, but the fall itself. I was being shut out of my home, exiled until I complete my mission.

No, the shame of the fall hurt more than the impact of my body on the earth as I fell into a lake, though the bones shattering was no treat. I could deal with physical pain as I always do. I came from a place of joy and had been torn from it. And I couldn't even cry.

When I came to Earth, all the unpleasant, dark emotions that I hadn't experienced ever before came flooding to me. Pain, hate, anger, fear, they were all there. I could feel my resentment to those who command me turning me bitter. But Guardians are not only not allowed to show emotions. They physically can't.

I didn't want to move. I just stayed in the water, sinking further and further down. I didn't care about breathing. When the water filled my lugs, I just simply didn't care. I just continued to let myself drown. I wonder if it was possible for me to drown. I'd never tested it before.

But the stirring pull, the forceful _need_ to fulfill the will of my superiors called to me. It forced me to move, to swim to the surface of the body of water. My body racked with shivers from the cold temperature. Never before had I felt this alone and broken. Not even all those years ago after the battle that earned me this job.

I laid on the edge of the land where it met the water as muddy swirls kicked up as I crawled away from the place I landed. Broken bones and torn muscles pulled and shifted until a point of so much pain I had to stop moving. I stayed motionless, not seeing the stars above. I didn't want to look at them from so far away when they used to be so close. Instead, I remembered the painful flashes of home.

Pure light. Warmth and sunshine. Singing and happiness. So soft, inviting, wonderful. Oh, how I longed to see it again. But of the future I could see, that would be if anything a long time from now. I could see the way things were supposed to end. It wasn't a clear picture, but I could see a huge column of fire in a dark area as something burned to ash. Other than that, it was mist and dust. This was a future result I needed to help make happen. The end of my journey. It was destiny. Or else.

But who's destiny? That's the question. Who am I supposed to find? Who had I been sent to guard and protect? I knew the basics and that I would sense him when I found him. I knew he would be human when I found him, but that status would change into something I... something I have distaste for. I know of the Earth from Jex's boastful stories. I know it's history, I know it's demons, I know of its Slayers and Watchers.

And I know some of its vampires.

I had dried off from my fall into the lake by now. Most of my bones had repaired themselves, so I forced myself up. The sooner I had started my mission, the sooner I can go home. Until then, I was shut out. Just as Michael had told me before I was sent. He had told me _everything_ about what I had to do and the reward I would get if I finished the mission. Most bets were on me not surviving to the end, though. If I was killed, someone else would be sent in my place. They already had a line-up of who would be next.

Suddenly, I felt it. That pull which guides all Guardians to their destiny was calling me. It sang to every fiber of my being, willing me to answer its call. I followed it, just to have it lead me to a place I hadn't ever wanted to go to. A pub.

There, I found a human. One I did not like. Everything about him screamed _evil._ But something about this snake had called out to me. Somehow, he was important and pertained to my future. Or should I say the future of my Charge. But he was not my mission. The pull to him wasn't near strong enough. I had been told when I saw my Charge, all other thoughts than that of taking care of him will fade. He will be my soul purpose.

I watched from the other side of the pub as the despicable man drank himself stupid. I watched the whores fawn over him to grab his purse when he wasn't looking and I saw him have his way with them. All I could see was sin. Though I was beyond disgusted, my features stayed neutral. As much as I wanted to spit in his direction, I physically was incapable of doing the action because it was spawned from my own emotions. I can only tell you how much it sucked.

Eventually, a blond that caught my attention came in. She was very out of place in the dirty, crowded bar. She was dressed in fancy Irish clothes and walked with an unnatural grace that humans don't possess. Her eyes flashed like those of a bird of prey. A beautiful woman of ice. I knew this vampire by reputation. This was Darla.

Though I had killed vampires in the Hell Wars, I hadn't known anything about them other than they were demons that had taken over and polluted the bodies of humans. A monster in a mask. It was wrong and unnatural for something not true demon and not true human to exist. I simply didn't want to allow it.

What I had learned about vampires had come from Michael. Being the War Lord of angels, he was always fascinated by a good battle. One of his favorites to witness were those of a Slayer and a vampire. When I had been given my mission from my brother figure, he had told me that I was destined for great things. My mission was to find a certain human before he is turned to guard not only him through his years a vampire, but his soul as he would need it later. And I would be guarding his soul very personally.

Somehow, a vampire was destined to save the world. How odd.

I had grown curious of vampires. Other than an intense dislike I felt for them, I really knew nothing of their kind. But Michael knew many things about them and he had told me of a vampire line that came from a demon called "The Master." A vampire so old, his demonic features had become permanent to that of his human visage. From this vampire came a direct Childe named Darla, a whore dying of an illness that was common in her time.

She had become a most monstrous killer that the entire supernatural world knew. Her name was feared. But not as much as the Slayer.

I found the topic of the Slayer a fascinating one. One girl strong enough to take on legions of vampires until her death the next would be called into action. To me, she portrayed a beacon of light. Something that protected innocents from the horrors a world they knew nothing of. I decided upon hearing of her that I would like to meet a Slayer.

But my mind wasn't on Slayers at the time. My full attention belonged to the deadly yet beautiful creature that is Darla. She hadn't noticed me, which I was grateful for at the moment. Instead, her attention was focused like a spotlight on the drunkard. She bent down and whispered something I couldn't make out in his ear. He grinned like a devil and followed her out to a back road. I shadowed them.

I heard them mumbling each other's names. I had recognized the vampire correctly, but I just now learned who the man was. His name was Liam. What I knew about this world, it was a nickname in Ireland for William. William is a good strong name. I didn't like it being used on such a weak man. Names tell who you are, of your story. They're supposed to have meaning.

I saw her turn him in a seductive matter before biting into him. She drained him on the very spot they stood. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if she could taste the alcohol in his blood. He drank from her and became a vampire. I didn't stop her because according to the future, this needed to happen. I watched as Liam's body slumped to the ground in a bloody heap. He'd tasted her blood. Now, he was tasting death.

As he fell, a grey orb of light that was his soul departed from him as his dead weight sank to the ground, drifting away towards the heavens. I watched it flit away, not moving to follow it. It wasn't worth my time or of any importance.

I waited as she left his body. I waited while the death cart rolled by to pick it up. I waited until everyone left the funeral. I waited until night. I waited until she came and he rose from the grave. Time had no meaning to me. After all, angels didn't need to sleep. I never figured out why. We just don't.

After my waiting, I spoke.

"Liam and Darla. The future scourge of Europe," I commented dryly as I stepped from out of the shadows and into the killers' vision. Though everything in me was screaming to kill them both, to end the evil, I knew I couldn't. They had to continue to exist. Sadly, they were important.

"Who are you?" He asked, his new fangs mangling his words. I still didn't like him. That feeling of evil had multiplied by thousands with the loss of his dark soul. I almost couldn't stand to be near him.

"The question you should be asking is: what are you? But you'll find out soon enough. I know what you're about to do, Liam. You already in your mind made the decision. You're going to go kill your family. I'm not here to stop you. You are not of my concern. I'm here to tell you that we will meet again. And when we do, I will accompany you on your journeys."

"A dainty thing like you wouldn't last in our world."

"And you would know this, how? You yourself have just been turned. Who's to say you'll survive past a decade? But if it's a test you want, it a test you'll get."

"Do you want to fight me?" He looked warily at his sire who hadn't said a word. She was looking at me with a puzzled yet awed expression.

I smirked at her fledgling. "If that's what it takes to prove myself."

Without warning, he lunged at me, snarling and teeth bared. I easily sidestepped him. New vampires, though strong, are messy fighters. It was something I learned fast after that night. Ignoring the slight pain from my bruised ribs, I attacked back.

I brought my elbow down across his back. He fell to the ground and I tried to kick his head. He rolled away at the last second and tried to sweep my leg as he stood. I jumped and Liam missed. While he was looking down, expecting me to fall, I sent a hard punch to his face.

He went down, blood pouring from his broken nose. Darla stepped in, finally. "Excellent battle, Ms.-" she trailed off, letting me give her my name.

"We don't have names where I came from. We name ourselves if we come to Earth and I haven't chosen one yet."

"And where _do_ you come from? No ordinary creature can take on a vampire. Even if they are a fledgling," the blond said stiffly. She didn't like the fact she didn't have the power of my name. But all I had said was true. At this time, I didn't have a name.

I pulled my hair that had become mussed in the tussle out of my face. I wasn't tired at all. I could go a few more rounds. In fact, my muscles ached for more challenge. But now wasn't the time. I had to be going to search for my Charge.

Upon this thought, I felt my wings pull free from their place wrapped around my spine, the blade-like feathers slicing through my skin to come outside my body as the flesh healed behind them in place. They unfurled in all their metallic silver glory.

Her eyes became wide and Liam backed away from his planned sneak attack from behind me.

"I'm an angel. A Guardian. And I'll be seeing you again."

With that, I took off, leaving two bewildered vampires behind me on the ground becoming smaller dots with each push of my wings. I looked to the sky, wind whipping my face. I almost smiled into the cool air, but I couldn't. This was as close to home as I was going to get for the next two hundred years.

* * *

**Sunnydale, California - 1999**

I looked in on my vampire lying so still in his cage. He looked dead. Well, I guess he technically _is_ dead, but that's not the point. It bothered me to see him unmoving after so long. Even when he was human, he was always moving. When he became a vampire it only got worse. If his chest rose and fell with breath, I would feel better about the situation. But he didn't breathe, so it didn't.

I think that's what bothers me most. Breathing was a habit he had never given up even after one hundred and nineteen years of being undead. His constant talking required the extra oxygen.

I could feel him begin to wake, his cobalt blue eyes fluttering open. That gave me instant relief. They fell on me as I stood on the other side of the glass looking down on him. But they were unfocused still and I could tell he hadn't registered who he was seeing.

A flicker of recognition was on his face and his groggy expression changed to that of confusion. "Rhuen?"

I didn't answer him when he called out for me. I could explain everything to him in a while. Instead, I watched as he took in his surroundings as a captured predator. He looked around, glaring at the white walls. A low growl vibrated from his chest before he tried banging on the glass wall in front of him. For his efforts, he received an electric shock.

I shook my head. Spike, the things you get yourself in to. My heart went out to him when I saw a rare expression on his face when his eyes met mine. **Fear**. William the Bloody was afraid. I remembered the last time I'd seen him look so scared, and it sent a chill through me.

* * *

**London - 1880**

I traveled Earth for a few centuries, becoming accustomed to human ways, but keeping to myself. I had no contact with anyone for over a century. I had spent my time learning about Earth, searching for my Charge, and killing vampires. In fact, it was by a vampire I had been named.

Over the years, I had hunted the human-like race of demons. I despised their kind. They were demons, yes, but that wasn't what bothered me. It's the fact they looked innocent, human, while they killed. The treachery of it disturbed me. So I killed them.

I had brought ruin to the vampire world and had become almost as feared as the Slayer herself, so Rhuen is what I was called. AKA; the angel of death. Cool, right?

All those years, killing vampires filled my time as I waited to meet my Charge. I knew this assignment would be harder than any other Guardian had been given, but I was determined to do it for the reward of entrance back into Heaven. Also, status as Archangel. At the time, I didn't think was going to be able to force myself to protect some vampire, even if he was daubed special. I was dead wrong. I was thinking those very thoughts the night I found him. How ironic that _his_ story would begin at a party?

I hated the attire of that period. Tight, restrictive dresses were not my thing. I liked to be loose and free to move about. The suffocating corset I had wriggled into was not in that category. But, it was my job to look the part of a human if I had any interaction with them. I was relying on natural social skills I had no clue if I had or not. All I knew was that I _had_ to be at this party.

My long brown hair with licks of red flame had been pulled onto my head in a messy yet tasteful bun. When down, it reaches to the center of my back,. But free hair was not ladylike for this time. My emerald floor length dress was not my favorite, but it showed my figure nicely. My metallic silver eyes, the same color as my wings that were still wrapped around my spine under the skin of my back darted through the crowds' faces.

Something much like the night I met Angelus had pulled me to this gathering. Someone was here that I needed to find. I took a seat down on the left side of the room, taking in the sight of people sitting against the wall. There were three ladies chattering on about something, probably a male. I didn't waste my time with them.

Someone else caught my eye. One look at him and I knew that he was the one. He was my mission. I took in everything about him. Those cobalt blue eyes watching with tenderness as he scribbled furiously in a book. His sandy blond locks were neatly pulled into a ponytail. Those razor blade sharp cheekbones. His hands, so skilled with the pen as they sped along like lightning.

He must have felt the power of gaze because his head snapped up to meet it. And there it was. Instant empathy link. As soon as our eyes connected, so did our emotions. I knew to a certain degree he would be able to feel mine, but not near to the extent as I felt his. He felt **Fear. Attraction.** He also felt something else I had never dealt with before. My inner voice told me its name. **Love.**

But my own emotions? I could name those. I was confused. Why had a human that should have no meaning to me other than to protect stir such a need to take care of him? To make him happy? What was I feeling? It's not like it mattered. I could never show him how I felt. Not yet.

My attention was taken away from him by a young gentleman who'd come over and asked me to dance. I politely refused and stood to walk where last I'd seen the vampire-to-be, but he was no longer there. Instead, his was now with a group reading what the young man had written.

_"My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in it._

_Inspired by your beauty, effulgent."_

I didn't snicker like the rest did about his "bloody awful" poetry. Instead, I watched with a wonder. His poetry hadn't been bad. It had just been different than what was normal. He'd used words people didn't think about on a regular basis. It wasn't Poe, but it wasn't bad, either. It was different. It was fresh.

He scrambled off, hurt by the crowd's nickname of him. William the Bloody. What is it with vampires by the name of "William"? Was no one original anymore? But I already knew the answer to that. He was. He was _very_ different.

I followed him as he trudged further into the party. He was following someone. A woman.

I watched and felt the sting to his broken heart as she rebuffed his love. He had been so pure, so kind; I didn't know how she could refuse him. He wasn't unattractive for a human and he was obviously in love. I could feel it. How could she hurt him so? It baffled me, the pain humans cause each other. I was reminded why my kind is unable to act upon emotion.

When I saw the tears in his eyes, I also saw something else. His soul. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. It danced deep inside him. It was made of white and blue embers and gleamed with a magic I'd never known. This soul was the most beautiful, lovely soul I've ever seen.

But I knew what was going to happen to it. When he turned, he would lose that amazing spark, and he wouldn't even know it. And I would have to bear it for him.

I went to his side and spoke to him, which was the most terrifying thing of my existence. It topped my fall from home. It topped my battle so many years ago against the rulers of hell. For some reason I couldn't understand, I wanted him to like me more than almost anything.

"William, you will know me very soon. I understand that this is strange and you probably won't believe a word I say, but I need you to pay attention to what I'm going to tell you. Something very important is going to happen tonight that will change things forever. I would stop it if I could, but I can't disrupt the future. When it happens, you'll need me to help guide you. Until then, beware the Black Beauty."

By Black Beauty, I was speaking of the vampire Drusilla that came through the infamous line of Aurelius. I didn't like that creature of darkness, but she had one thing of mine that not any other vampire has. She has my pity.

She hadn't chosen to become a vampire. It had been forced upon her after she'd been driven insane. I truly felt bad for her, being a monster with an innocent, child-like mind. But that didn't change the fact she's a soulless beast now and she enjoyed it. The thing she's done, the people she's killed...

My pity was the only reason I didn't kill her ten years ago when I caught her feeding. That, and the fact I knew she would be the one to Sire my vampire. I could feel it in my very being. It was something I knew.

William looked confused, and I didn't blame him. If a stranger came up to me and told me my destiny, I'd be confused as well. "I beg your pardon?" He was so soft spoken, so timid. Such a good soul...

"I cannot tell you anything else or it may change the future from the course it needs to go. I'm sorry." I began to walk away but he grabbed my wrist so gently, I barely felt it. His touch sent a jolt through my body. No human has ever touched me before.

"Please, at least give me your name."

I sighed. What harm could my name cause? "I'm called Rhuen. When the time comes, call for me. I will be there."

With that, I broke away and slipped into the night. William soon followed, still upset from Cecily's rejection. I followed him in the shadows as he came to the ally that would be the place of his death.

Then she came. Drusilla twisted the words of his poetry to convince him that she could offer him something better. He accepted, and she, with dark grace began to turn him. I wanted to tremble when he screamed out in pain. I wanted to end it, but I couldn't. But there was something I could do so that I could.

I watched as his soul left him, and it began to float away. Before it faded and disappeared, I snatched it. It was my mission to keep it safe, letting it become one with my entity. This was the only time a Guardian had been allowed to have a soul, even if it was not my own. It did the job, and instantly, I felt my body tremble as I wished it could not moments ago. It was startling.

I watched as his eyes, so full of terror fell to the blood of his sire on her wrist. He drank deep and died for the first time.

* * *

**Sunnydale - 1999**

That was the very fear I remember to this day. The only thing I can compare to this moment. Spike was _that_ terrified. And he didn't even know about the chip, yet. The chip that was necessary to his future.

"Bloody hell, Rhuen," he swore in his deep heads-are-gonna-roll voice. It brought a smile to my lips. Even after all these years, all that had changed was his fashion sense. And thank goodness it _did _change.

"Oh, Spike. I can't leave you alone for more than a decade. Look what you got yourself into," I said lightly, trying to calm him down with my natural sarcasm. It seemed to work as the mind numbing **Fear** that had flowed from him to me slacked off into more of an awareness that he was in a bad spot.

I watch as a packet of blood comes from the roof of his cell. He picked it up and eyed it warily before leaning in to drink. It was the first blood he'd seen since he was brought here and I saw the hunger in his eyes, his demon yearning for it. The need for it was instinctual, causing him to forget the fact he had no clue where he was and even the fact I was there. I could feel the hunger myself. But he shouldn't drink that. And I told him so.

"It's drugged," I said. He froze before the bite and looked longingly at the blood before tossing it.

"Perhaps you should tell a bloke where the hell he is."

"It's a government owned facility that houses commandos that hunt demons so they can use them to create a super army. This is the Initiative. But, you're in luck. Unlike the others here, you have someone to break you out."

"I would owe you one, Sweet."

I glared in a playful way. "You already owe me a thousand. In fact, I demand one of these days you take me for pizza."

"Fine, fine, I'll take you for soddin' pizza. Will you get me out of here?" He was starting to get that fear again. I pushed it away from me mentally. I couldn't help but soften at his wide-eyed look of panic that he was trying to mask under the Big Bad.

"You know I'll always help you, Spike."

He looked down. "I know." I tensed and he saw it. The fear grew in him. He had no idea what to expect. Luckily, I did. They were coming. Army men in black marched through the door, guns all trained on me. I smiled sweetly at them, knowing they were all going to feel it in the morning when they woke up.

"Unidentified species, we are the United States government. We order you to surrender to our custody, or be prepared to be shot dead," the leader said with a slight tremor in his voice. He had no idea what I was. Boy, was he in for a surprise.

To appease them, I held out my hands arms length to show my surrender. Spike disapproved of the gesture and growled, but I shot him a look that told him to shut up. For once, he did. As soon as the guns started to lower, I whipped out my wings, the blades cutting through my back as they came. I wrapped them around me as a shield and had just got them in place when the shots started.

I smirked at the little _pinks_ that sounded as metal clashed with metal. When I heard the clicks of empty weapons, I let my wings fall to my sides while grinning at them. "My turn," I whispered.

One by one, they all fell. I killed no one, but not a single human was conscious to fight back, anymore. All but one.

I walked to the injured soldier's side and crouched down on the balls of my feet next to him, my smile still in place. "So, Major Pain-in-my-side, I have a little problem. You have something of mine, and I want him back."

"Wh-what are y-you?" he warbled. I didn't need an empathy link to know he was beyond freaked out.

"I'll be your worst nightmare if you don't give me the key to get Spike out." I held my palm out expectantly as he just stared in awe. I rolled my eyes. "I don't have all day, and you don't have five minutes if you don't give me the key. Now."

_That_ got him going. Using the arm that wasn't broken, the soldier pulled at the tags around his neck. When it was pulled free, I could see a white card attached to it that I knew to be the key. I took the chain gingerly, making sure to not touch him. "Thank you."

Then I punched him hard enough in the face so his lights went out. Okay, he may feel that longer since he won't be waking up in the morning. Or anytime soon.

I stood in one fluid motion and stepped around bodies back to the door of Spike's cell. Putting two and two together, I swiped the white card over the panel next to the door. After a beep and a dramatic puff of smoke, the electric door opened and Spike got out just as fast as he could.

"I vote we get out of here," he said.

I shrugged. "Works for me, boss. Let's go. It won't be long before they send more." I turned on my heel and stalked off into the next hall, my hand still clutching the chain of the key. I could feel Spike right behind me. It felt good to be around him again. Last time we saw each other... well, it was a very long time ago.

I managed to find an air vent that was rather large. Using a little angelic strength, I ripped it from the wall. Bowing slightly at the waist, I gestured for Spike to go first. He glared, but managed to wriggle his way in. I was right after him. "Whatever you do, Spike, don't stop."

He didn't.

We crawled through the dark, but that didn't bother me. My whole existence was in the dark anymore. Being in the dark was now second nature, so my vision adapted quickly. I could feel that Spike was still a little freaked out, but as we moved, he began to calm. It was as if doing something took his mind off dangers.

When we came to the end of the tunnel, Spike reared back a fist as best he could and slammed it into the grate holding us in. I felt relief when it fell away and we were able to wriggle free from the tight space.

We fell out a wall of some factory and Spike offered me a hand. I took it and allowed him to help me up. "Thanks. We have to get out of here."

"I have a place," Spike said. I knew what he was talking about.

"Oh, yeah. You're going to find your vampire chick."

He looked at me in surprise, scarred eyebrow quirked, "How did you know about her? You left, Rhuen."

"Yeah, I did leave. For periods of time. But just because you didn't see me doesn't mean I wasn't there."

"You've been watching me?"

"What did you expect?" I asked rhetorically while shrugging, "My job is to protect you. In order to do that, I have to keep tabs on you."

"So you walk out of my unlife and then stalk me?"

I glared, my voice straining to stay calm with rage boiling under it. "You're the one who sent me away."

He didn't say anything. He couldn't. He knew I was right.

I forced myself to calm down, knowing we were still in danger. "If you want to run off to your vamp girl, that's fine. But do it fast. The army guys will be coming for you."

"Right," he said with a blank look. That is, until that evil gleam came into his eye, "but I think I'll be needing a snack, first. Captivity doesn't promote fine dinning."

"Good luck with that," I snorted. His eyes flashed to mine. He knew I knew something he didn't.

"What's that s'posed to mean?"

"You won't be able to eat anyone, Spike. Not anymore."

To my surprise, he laughed. "Yeah, right. They didn't call me William the Bloody for no reason, Sweet. You of all people should know that."

"Yeah, I remember your poetry," I said sweetly.

"Hey!"

"'Hey' yourself, Spike. You're just waisting energy you need. But go ahead. Try to hunt. See what happens." I turned on my heel to leave, but his hand caught me. I spun around, seeing a slight fear in his eyes.

"You're not leaving, are you?"

Why did I always get soft for this idiot? I sighed. "I thought that's what you wanted."

"I never said that."

"You did once."

"That was a long time ago. And you agreed to it."

He had me there. I ran a hand through my messy hair needing something to do. And that's when the vision of his future came.

In my mind, a bright light flashed and a mental movie played out. I saw Spike going to a cave where a blond girl held up a stake. She threw him out and he asked for someone to eat before she scared him off. That was the way Spike's future was going.

Then, another vision swam into my mind's eye out of the black depths of my head. This scene was the way things *needed* to work out. In this vision, Spike was with me as we went to a house. I took careful note of the address as the door opened to reveal two people that I knew to be the Slayer and her Watcher. I saw myself asking for their help before it all disappeared and faded to black it had come from.

With a gasp, the real world came back. I shook for a moment with the exhaustion that came after a miracle. Spike's arms were automatically around me in a hug. He'd seen this before, but it had been a while now. He must have been kind of shocked by it. "Are you alright?" his deep voice asked.

I hadn't hugged him back, but I leaned into his embrace while nodding. "Mhmm. Just saw the future. No biggie."

Very slowly and awkwardly, Spike let me go. I saw the apology in his eyes, but he wouldn't say it. He'd only ever said sorry to me that one time after killing his first slayer.

And for what he did, he should have.

"What did you see?" He asked.

"I saw the way things are going now with you going to your girlfriend and her trying to stake you. And then I saw the way things _need_ to go. And that, you're not going to like."

"Harm tries to stake me? I knew that bint was good for nothing."

"Uh-huh," I said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes and changed subject. "What was the second thing you saw?"

"Like I said, you won't like it."

"Bloody just tell me, Rhuen!"

"Fine!" I said defensively. "You're going to have to go with me to the Watcher's house and ask the Slayer for help."

He frowned. "You're right. That I _don't _like that."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm just trying to help you out, but you do what you want, Spike. You're good at that," I snapped.

For a moment, he looked hurt and I felt the guilt I didn't want to feel coming on. Then the Big Bad came back. "Right, then. I will."

Spike turned on his heal, a flash of leather and peroxided hair. As he stormed off, I looked up to the sky, my hands becoming claw-like as I let out a silent scream of exasperation. Leave it to me to get the most hard-headed, annoying, pain in the neck Charge possible.

Part of me wanted to let him go so he could find out about his new chip and come crawling back to me asking for help. I knew it would happen, but I also knew it would hurt his major ego. I was considering doing just that when a loud snarl came from the other side of the dark park I stood in.

His emotions came. **Pain. Fear.** They assaulted my very own being and I ran after him. As I got closer, I saw a squad of four commandos circled around my stupid vampire. One had managed to pin Spike's arms behind his back, binding his wrists with some strong wire material. Another man slipped a dark hood over his head, but not before his blue eyes had found me. They sent a silent call for help. One he knew I couldn't deny.

I sighed and rushed in to help, punching the soldier holding on to Spike in the face. He went down as his nose cracked and Spike jumped into action. He ripped the wire restraints off along with the hood while I went to taking care of the guy aiming his stun gun at us.

I could feel Spike get into a fighting stance behind me, and I suddenly felt more sure of myself. It was just like the old days when we worked so well together, fitting like the pieces of a puzzle. It would have been ever better if I didn't feel the waves of fear rolling off him into me from my empathy link.

"Sweet, we got a problem. I can't fight them. I tried, but I thought my head was gonna explode."

"That," I said, my eyes never leaving the enemy's face, "would be your little gift from the government. This will teach you, Spike. Be careful who you vote for, or they'll put a chip in your vampiric head that won't allow you to hurt humans." My tone had become sarcastic at the end. I don't care about polotics. I only worry about one thing, and the president is not it.

"What?" came the angry reply from behind me.

I didn't have time to answer. Electrodes came my way and I dodged them at the last second. I ran up to the human, my wings slicing through my back to come out. I aimed a kick to his chest as I lept at him, hitting my mark perfect.

I turned to see the last two commandos trying to take on Spike. The vampire was a fast enough learned to understand his chip wouldn't go off unless he hurt someone, so he focused on evading as they came after him. One tried to go hand-to-hand, but I intercepted him before he got too close to my Charge. I glared him down while yelling at Spike. "Get out of here! It'll be easier to focus if I don't worry about you!"

He almost needed to be told twice and was about to argue with me when I slammed the man I was grappling with down and went for the last guy. I didn't need to do much seeing as he gave me one look and ran away. Can't say I blame him, though his buddies might when they wake up. I sniffed indignantly and relaxed a bit when I turned to see Spike was safe.

I tensed when I saw he hadn't listened to me one bit. "You idiot! What part of, 'Get out of here,' is so hard to understand?"

"The part where I take orders from you?" I walked over to him and smacked him upside the head. His hand darted to where mine had whacked him and he glared at me. "Ow."

"Serves you right," I seethed. "Spike, it's my job to protect you. Why is it you have a hard time helping? I mean, really, do you _try_ to get yourself killed?"

He just gave me one of those trademark smiles that he'd perfect over the years, but unlike all those snarky ones, this one met his eyes. "Good to see you again, too, Rhuen."


	2. Pangs

**Even If Saving You Sends Me To Heaven**

**By wolfgal97**

**Pangs**

"You are the biggest pain in the neck ever, Spike!"

"Vampire, sweet," the platinum blonde teased bumping his elbow into my arm.

"Shut up," I hissed at him. Spike had been making fun of me now for the past ten minutes it had taken for us to get on the street where the Slayer's watcher lives. It was getting old and my very limited patients were being tested. We had to hurry up. The sun was going to rise in a few moments and if we didn't get inside, Spike was going to fit in an ashtray.

He made a show of zipping his lips and locking them with a pretend key, which he proceeded to toss over his shoulder. That stunt earned an amused smile from me and I could feel that he was happier knowing I wasn't really mad at him.

The sky was turning pink. We ran to make it to the shade of the flat's front door. I knocked on the door furiously, pressing Spike in front of me, closer to the door. I used my body to block the first rays off light off him.

Footsteps came from inside as they neared the door. Whoever it was opened the door quickly. We would have fallen inside if Spike being kept out of the house by the magic barrier didn't hold us up. If I hadn't been trying to keep him from the sun, I'm sure the sight would have been funny.

I looked over Spike's shoulder to see who'd come to the door. I recognized the blond hair and green eyes from my visions the second I saw them. Finally, I was face to face with the Slayer.

Since the first thing she saw was Spike, a cold look settled on her golden features. I didn't blame her one bit. If Spike is as big of a pain to me, someone he considers his friend, I can only imagine how much of an annoyance he would be to his mortal enemy.

Her expression became curious when she saw me. I tried my best to look friendly while trying to force my famous killer vampire into her Watcher's house. I was just about to ask if we could come in when another person came to the door. I recognized the Watcher from Spike's memories as well.

We stood there in silence, just watching each other until Spike spoke up. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Buffy shot back.

"Invite us in!" He growled.

"No! Why would I invite you and your girlfriend in?"

"Uh, excuse me," I spoke up, "I'm not Spike's girlfriend. I'm his Guardian."

Her eyebrows shot up. Apparently, she had no idea what I was talking about. Luckily, her watcher did. He removed his glasses and cleaned them and I got the feeling he did that a lot. "By Guardian, you mean you are Spike's angel?"

My eyes locked on his. "Exactly."

"A demon has an angel?" the Slayer asked.

_No, really? That's all I've been saying for the past five minutes!_ I bit my tongue to stop the snarky remark. Being sarcastic wasn't going to get us in. "Yes, I'm his angel. It's my job to make sure he stays on a certain path. A non-dusty one. Please let us in and I'll explain everything."

"No! How do we know you're not lying?" She asked, crossing her arms and leaning back.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but I knew she was right. "You want proof? I can do that." The familiar slicing feeling that came from my wings extending from under my flesh washed down my spine in a wave of pain. I let my wings shoot out, shimmering against the morning sunlight that now warmed the back of my neck. The metallic feathers moved slightly in the breeze.

I looked up over my vampire's shoulder to meet wide eyes and a brunette behind them that I hadn't seen in years.

"Anyanka? Girl, it's been what? Decades?"

Her eyes lit up and she ran over to the door to greet me. "Rhuen, angel! It's great to see you! Since when did you go back to babysit your Charge?"

"Recently. Anya, you think you could help a friend out?"

"What?" She looked around like she'd forgotten where we were. She finally spotted the odd looks everyone was giving her. "Oh, yeah! Guys, she's an old friend. And when I say old, I mean old! Like, she's older than me old."

I shot her a glare, though I really wasn't mad. Anya's people skills had not improved over time. But it didn't matter. Her clearance got us in because the Watcher gave us the invite. I braced myself in time, but Spike fell over at the sudden invitation. I managed to grab the neck of his duster to keep him from face planting at the last second.

"Hey! You're stretchin' the leather!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it before. Shut up, Spike," I said, yanking him into a standing position before letting him go. He huffed a little and fixed the slightly ruffled collar of the jacket. I rolled my eyes, but didn't comment further.

"Ooh, she insults him! I think I may like her," the Slayer said brightly. I could tell she really did like the fact I picked on Spike, but she also looked at me warily like she didn't trust me.

We all just stared at each other for a while. I mean, you could hear a pin drop with how deathly silent the room had become. Even though I'm not one to break down to nerves, I found myself swaying from side to side, alternating my weight on my left and right legs.

"Aaaachoo!" A boy with dark hair that lay on the couch sneezed and Anyanka ran over to him and started moving her hands over his body in a loving and protective way. I raised an eyebrow. The Anyanka I knew would _never_ comfort a human male. I almost commented, but there was no need. She'd seen my confusion and seemed more than eager to explain.

"Rhuen, this is Xander. He's my boyfriend and gives me lots of pleasurable orgasms."

"Anya," the boy whined feebly, trying to keep his girlfriend to refrain from talking about their sex life. Behind me, I heard Spike chuckle. I whirled on him, finger poking him the chest. "Don't even comment, Spike. Don't even!" He rolled his eyes, but nodded. I would bet money if he had some blood in his system he wouldn't have complied so easily.

I turned back to five curious faces, though Anya at least looked happy to see me as well. I tried to offer a small smile, but it really didn't do anything. I sighed and crossed my arm, putting my shoulders back to show I was comfortable dominating a situation. "Okay, let's cut to the chase. My name is Rhuen and I'm an Guardian angel. I'm on a mission sent from heaven to watch over this idiot over here," I said, using my thumb to gesture behind me at the bleached vampire. "My mission will reach an end when my superiors decide Spike no longer needs me. Until then, I see his future and change it to the way it needs to go."

Silence.

I clapped my hands together, the noise making everyone jump. I visibly saw the Slayer's muscles tense for a fight. I admired that. "Look, show and tell is over for now. Spike got into trouble with a group called The Initiative. You heard of 'em?"

"Are you referring to the commandos?" The Watcher asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, them. Anyhoo, they caught dum-dum, did a few experiments, put a chip in his skull that keeps him from killing or hurting humans and I just busted him out That's our situation in a nutshell."

"You have information on these guys?" asked the Slayer.

I nodded. "Yup, and the info is yours if you give your word to keep Spike safe."

"Evil Dead is _not_ staying in this house!"

"Save your breath, Whelp. It doesn't look like you have enough to waist." I elbowed my unruly vampire in his ribs enough to get my point through.

"Play nice, Spike."

"Why should I? I didn't sign up for any of this, did I? I didn't ask to have a chip put in my head or for you to play Wonder Woman. So answer me, why should I?" He seethed, ending his rant with his voice very low and dangerous sounding.

I knew what he was doing. He was trying to make me feel like the bad guy because he's scared and doesn't want to deal with what happened to him. I knew it was just him in defense mode. I know he lashes out to keep himself protected. But I also knew his weakness. He could never deny the girls he cares about anything.

"Spike," I start gently, looking up at him, right into his narrowed eyes so he could see the plea in mine, "I need you to do this. I need you to play nice until I can find a way to fix this. If you don't, you make my job harder. You put yourself in danger and I'll have to get you out of it. We don't know what we're dealing with, so until we do, I need you to help me out here. Please, Spike."

His shoulders slumped and his stony expression melted like butter on bread. He knew I was going to win this, and I knew he would play it off. He regained a harder expression, but I already knew I'd won. "Fine, but it's only until I get this chip out. Then I'm on my own again."

I smiled and turned to the Watcher who was watching our exchange with a curious expression. "What?" I asked carefully.

"Hmm? Oh! Well I was just trying to figure out how you got a master vampire to comply with your wishes by... well, for lack of a better phrase, puppy-dog eyes."

I snorted. "Spike and I go way back. He just respects me. Plus, he's a big softie," I said while winking.

"Hey! None of that! I'm still the Big Bad."

I patted his back in a patronizing way. "Keep telling yourself that, hun."

A low growl was my only reply. I felt him sway slightly under the weight of my hand. He really needed blood and I was going to have to get it. I sighed. "Spike, why don't you sit down."

"I'll get the ropes," Buffy said while walking over to a cubby in the corner of the room.

Spike's eyebrow raised at her as he stretched and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed gesture. "And what do we need those for? Finally decide you want a taste of Spike and want to try the whole bondage thing? Kinky, Slayer."

"Shut up, bleachhead," she snapped while bringing thick ropes over to the chair where Spike was relaxing. "Until we get a system going, I don't trust you to run around." She made a grab for his wrists, but he avoided her.

"Rhuen," he called, eyes still on the Slayer, "are you really going to let her do this?"

Was that fear he was masking? I clearly felt it ebbing at the edge of my own emotions though it hadn't come from me. I ignored it. Spike was fine. I would be here to protect him. "Just let her for now. Just until we get things sorted."

"Rhuen!"

"Spike, let the girl tie you up or I swear, _I'll_ do it!"

He shut up and stopped struggling, going slack so the Slayer could wrap the ropes around his wrists behind his back. Then, she used the rest to anchor him to the chair. Spike complained the whole time. "Bloody hell, Slayer! You're cutting off my circulation!"

"You don't have any circulation," she snipped back as she finished tying him off.

"Well it pinches," he growled back, glaring at her over his shoulder.

"Get used to it," she said, walking over to the Watcher, "I got more important things to worry about."

"Such as? I thought Spike was an enemy of yours. Wouldn't you want to question him first?" If I had_ my_ arch enemy, _her_ at my mercy, I wouldn't waste time on trying to kill her. Of course, I was here to protect Spike from the Slayer. No one was going to hurt him while I was around.

"He is, but right now I need to deal with my Indian problem. Then I can be bothered with Spike."

My gaze landed on the girl in the corner, taking everything in. Though small and meek looking, I could feel pure energy radiating from her. It's what had drawn my attention to her. The power rolling off her in magic waves was almost daunting. Almost. I'd faced worse.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know your name. I'd like to be on friendly terms with someone so powerful."

She blushed a the complement of her abilities. "My name's Willow. And I'm not _that_ powerful. I just... dabble."

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Trust me, Willow, you are that powerful. I feel it. Just be careful with it. I'm ripping off Spiderman here, but with great power comes great responsibility."

The boy on the couch eyes lit up at the reference. "You know Spiderman?"

I snorted. "Well, yeah. Who doesn't?"

He looked like he was about to reply when Anya cut in. "Xander, honey, look! Now you have a friend who enjoys your dorky comics as well! Just don't get too friendly," she ended, casting a look my way.

I grinned. "He's all yours, Ahn. Back to the Indian problem. What's going on there?"

The Watcher filled me in. "It seems the vengeful spirit of a Native American is killing people in order to pay back what was done to his people hundreds of years ago."

"So Squanto is running around killing people. I can see how this is a bad thing. How may I help?" They must not have expected me to be so willing to offer my services, but I would do what Anyanka needs of me. Out of all the years I have existed, I've never liked other females. They are cold, cruel beasts that care only for what they want. Anya is the first girl I met that wasn't like that. All she ever did was try and make life better for other women. I find this to be extraordinary.

"You're kidding, right?" the Slayer asked. "We just meet you, hanging out with Spike even, and you want to help us? That just doesn't add up."

"Actually, it does." I reasoned. "You see, the faster you finish dealing with your own problems you can help me with mine. At the moment, Spike is my problem-"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Spike! Point being, I need all your resources dealing with him. That's not going to happen until you finish with your little Indian first."

"Uhh, sorry, not to butt in but," Willow said in a timid voice, "the preferred term is 'Native American'."

I smiled gently at her, but I was interrupted before I could say anything. "Oh, someone put a stake in me!"

I was about to shoot Spike a dirty look when the boy on the couch said, "You've got a lot of volunteers in here." I gave it to him instead.

"I just can't take all this mamby-pmaby boo-hooing about the bloody Indians."

"Native Amer-" Willow tried to say.

"You won, alright? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do. That's what Caesar did, and he's not going around saying, 'I came, I conquered, I feel really bad about it.' The history of the world isn't people making friends. You had better weapons and you massacred them. End of story."

"Be nice," I insisted, but he was on a kick now.

"Listen to you, Rhuen! You used to be a great warrior. How are you going to fight anyone with _that_ attitude?"

The witch sounded small and innocent. "But we don't wanna fight anyone…"

"I just wanna have Thanksgiving." The Slayer sounded like a disappointed child. I raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

Spike chuckled. "Good luck with that."

"What if we talked to him?" Willow asked.

"And say what?" I wanted to know what she could say that could make anything better.

"You exterminated his race and now he wants payback. It's kill or be killed here. Take your bloody pick."

The boy I seemed to remember being named Xander chimed in again. "Maybe it's the Syphilis talking… but some of that made sense…"

"I made these points earlier, but fine, no one listens to me," the watcher said, sounding hurt. I had an idea that though this guy seemed to know what was going on, hardly anyone listened to him.

"Fine, but someone still has to go warn the dean." I was a bit shocked. The Slayer had totally ignored her Watcher's comments.

"I'll go," Willow offered. I think she wanted to get away from the heated debate.

"Not alone," I said. Though I didn't know her at all, I still didn't want anyone getting hurt. I could feel her power, but I was afraid she'd be too gentle and reserved to use it.

Buffy shot me a grateful glance as Anya and Xander offered to go with their friend. "You sure you're up to it?" the Slayer asked the boy as he wobbled to his feet.

"Oh, leave that one. He looks like he may drop any minute and I think I can eat someone if they're already dead," Spike said. I smacked him upside the head hard enough to get him to shut up but not enough to hurt.

Xander nodded, though it looked like the motion had tossed him a bit off balance. "I'm up to it." Buffy gave them directions to the dean's house as Anya allowed her boyfriend to lean on her while they made their way out of the house. She called to them that dinner was in an hour before shutting the door.

"When do I get fed? Do you know what happens to vampires who don't get to feed?"

"Actually," the Slayer said with curiosity in her tone, "I always wondered about that." She went about setting the table, putting plates and silverware in different spots.

"Living skeletons, mate. Like famine pictures from those dusty countries, only not half as funny."

"Quit being morbid, Spike. I'm going to get you some blood as soon as I can. Till then, stop bothering the Slayer."

"But I'm hungry, Rhuen, and-"

"Do I have to gag you?" Buffy asked adjusting a centerpiece, "because I'm not listening to you whine all night. It's going to be a nice civilized-" Just then, a very uncivilized arrow flew out of nowhere and stuck itself in the table. My head whipped around in the direction it came from. Standing in the window was an Indian with a bow.

"I figure that's our man?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"How many other Native Americans do you see running around?" The Slayer snapped back.

"What's going on?" Spike asked as a storm of arrows rained down the room. "Are you just going to leave me here?" I was making my way over to him when an arrow stuck him in the chest. Almost comically, he looked down at it and then back up to the person who shot him. "Hey! Watch the heart!"

I place myself protectively in front of him, taking an arrow in the shoulder. It kind of hurt, but not enough to whine about it. I'd been through a lot worse that little things like that barely bother me.

I about did a backflip when the phone rang. I mean, who could be calling _right now_ of _all_ times? The funny thing is Giles answered it! I mean, in the middle of it pouring arrows down, he commando crawled across the floor the few feet that separated him from the phone.

"H-hello? Yes- Yes w-we're well aware of that… We-we're under siege now, actually… thank you." Why do British stay so calm in the most insane situations? It's a bit unnerving. Spike is _just_ the same way. We could be facing death and he would be making inappropriate cracks about it.

"Who was _that_?" I asked while getting shot in in the leg. I considered flipping off the Indian that shot it, but figured it wasn't worth the energy. I heard Spike growl behind me so I peeked over my shoulder to see an arrow protruding from his back. "Sorry," I mouthed.

"That was… uh, someone. We need a plan," the older man said, quickly changing the subject.

"No dip, Sherlock!" I really didn't care if sarcasm was welcome right now or not. It made _me_ feel better. By the look I got back for it, it wasn't. I ignored him and asked, "Where are the weapons?"

"Over there," he said while jerking his head in the general direction of a chest. Buffy took the initiative and began making her way over there. She was just opening the lid when an arrow pierced her arm. She yelled out in pain, but pulled it out and went back to what she was doing.

"Remember what I was saying about conquering nation's thing? Forget it. Apologizes."

"Shut up, Spike," the Slayer and I said at the exact same time. I had a feeling this was going to be a habit.

"Fine, I'll do it myself," he continued. "Hey, sorry. Sorry about that, Chief!"

"Do we know how many there are?" I asked, ignoring the muttering vampire behind me.

"Too many," the slayer admitted. "We need help." Just as she says this, an Indian jumps down to go hand to hand with her. She kept beating on him, but he wouldn't go down. "Giles, these guys won't die!"

I turned my attention to the watcher who currently was grappling with an Indian who had him around the neck. "Bit busy here!"

Spike's chair tipped over behind me and he shouted out in indignation. I rolled my eyes and went over to yank off the man trying to kill Giles. After I tossed him at the window, I saw what was outside it. There, fighting in the dark was Angel. I decided now wasn't the time to go catch up and went back to kicking Indian ass.

Buffy was working on her own enemy, going hand to hand with him. She managed to wrestle away his knife and stab him with it. Instantly the wound began to bleed. She looked at the blade in wonder. "Your own knife can kill you."

Without warning, the injured ghost changed form before our eyes into a large black bear. My eyes widened in surprise and Spike's jaw almost dropped. "A bear," he gasped, "you made a bear."

"I didn't mean to," Buffy said quietly.

"Undo it! Undo it," the vampire yelled while squirming in his bonds. I nodded in agreement. Fighting a bear isn't one of the things on my list of things to accomplish before I die. The bear was going after her, but if it got the Slayer and then managed to get me, it would be going after Spike next. I couldn't allow that to happen. "Hey, Bear! Yeah, you, Booboo! Come here!"

The beast rounded on me and unleashed a roar before taking a swipe at me with its claws. I tried to back away, but the wall at my back allowed me nowhere to go. Razor sharp claws raked the flesh across my stomach. Arrows I've felt before and can deal with. This was new pain and not pleasant. '

"Rhuen! Are you alright?" Spike called from his spot on the floor. My hand went to the cuts to stem the steady flow of blood seeping from my body. I bit my lip to keep from saying something to alert him to how much pain I was in and just nodded to answer him. The warm, sticky liquid was beginning to stain my fingers crimson.

It had been worth it, though. While I had distracted the bear, Buffy stabbed it in the back. The bear took human form again for just a second until it almost misted away. As the leader died, so did all his little buddies. The silence that followed was eerie until it was broken by an annoyed vampire tied to a tipped over chair.

"What happened? Did we win?" I took a good look at Spike's arrow riddled body and for a moment, my heart sped up in fear. It was when he started complaining about not getting a good view of the fight that I knew for sure he was okay. I shook my head in relief at his familiar complaints.

"Spike, you look like a human pincushion," I breathed in a heavy voice as I dragged my weary body over to him. Though it hurt to move, I managed to jerk his chair into an upright position. He was surprisingly light, which worried me. How long had it been now since he's fed?

"Well, see here, I have you to put me to rights, don't I?" he asked, tongue curling behind his teeth. I smirked and lightly tapped his shoulder in a playful smack. "Easy on the injured," he teased as I walked around to his front. It was time to get those arrows out.

"Spike, I'm going to yank on three, okay? Want to count with me?" He nodded as I grasped two different arrows with each of my hands. One in his leg and one in his chest. "One..."

_YANK!_

"Bloody hell!"

"Sorry!" I said while wrapping my hand around his back and yanking out the last one there before he could even blink. A few more choice words followed that stunt. When he calmed down enough his blue eyes met mine in an honest gaze. "Thanks, sweet. I appreciate it."

I gave him a smile, the kind that only he could get from me. Spike was my best friend ever, so naturally I felt most comfortable around him. If I could ever trust one person, it was Spike. Trust is a rare thing anymore, and with him I always have it.

Then I felt that feeling I get when an old, powerful vampire I've come into contact with before comes around. That chill that runs up my spine, the coolness in the air. All the signs were there, and I knew it wasn't coming from Spike.

"Hey, I'll be back in a second. I'm going to go out for some air," I told the bound vampire. Through our link I felt a flash of anxiety pooling in him. He didn't want me to leave him alone, but I knew he'd never admit it.

I stepped out the back door into the cool night air. It didn't take me long to find who I was looking for. "Hello, Angel."

"Rhuen. It's been a while."

"If your definition of 'a while' is over fifty years, yeah it's been a while. How's the soul?"

His dark towering form melted from the darkness into my vision. He came to stand next to me, both of us staring into the night at the moon. Little wisps of black clouds passed over the glowing crescent every now and then, adding more shadows to the darkness.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Fifty years had done him good. Angel had modernized. His long dark ponytail had been chopped off into handsome looking spikes held in place by some strong smelling hair gel. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, but it was present.

His eyes which used to look like malevolent glowing coals burning with an evil fire had melted into warm chocolate orbs. They held a kindness, but also a lasting impression of sadness. I would call them puppy eyes.

These slight changes along with the new leather clad attire proved to me something I didn't want to accept. Angel was a different person than Angelus and I can't punish him for Angelus' sins. Even though I would love to.

"It's very... soulful," he said in that deep voice accompanied by a cynical chuckle. We didn't really say anything for a while. What was there to say? If you take a look at our past, you would know it isn't a nice one. Angelus was a horrible monster. A monster that liked to torment the vampire I'm supposed to protect. You can see how this situation challenged my friendship with the ensouled vampire.

"I can't say it's good to see you," comments. "I mean, you and I never got along. At least, Angelus and I didn't. I don't really know much about Angel."

He sighed, bothered by the situation. "I know. I feel like we at least owe each other the chance at a new relationship. At least, I hope you will try to see me as someone else. I'm not _him._ I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Is that true? Because I think there's one person I know that either you or Angelus would love to get a hold of."

"If you're talking about Spike-"

"Of course I'm talking about Spike. After all Angelus did to him, it's hard for me to just up and forgive his face just because he goes by a new name, Angel."

Conversation stopped again. Time was passing and I was feeling the need to get back to Spike. I decided to wrap it up. "Look, I don't want to fight. I'm willing to try and make a friendship with you. I just don't know if it's going to work out. I've heard of your mission to do good and redeem yourself. I want to let you know that I support you in that. If you need anything from me, just ask."

He turned to me, those new eyes warm and kind. "I'll keep that in mind."

I blinked and by the time I opened my eyes he was gone. I ran a hand through my messy hair and dragged myself back in the house. The group was just sitting down to eat after cleaning up the mess from the mini war that had gone on. Someone had even pulled Spike over to the table.

I made a mental note to go out and get him some blood when I saw he was more pale than normal. There was an empty seat between him and Anya and she sat, patting the chair next to her. I did as asked and sat down as Willow lowered a plate of food in front of me. "I hope that angels eat," she said sweetly. "I don't really know anything about your kind. If I do something wrong, please let me know."

"It's fine." I thought it was adorable that someone was so kind to a stranger. I found myself beginning to become attached to the witch. "We don't have to eat, but we can and often like to." To prove my point, I grabbed a hot buttery roll and took a nibble from it.

I noticed Spike hadn't gotten anything to eat so I shoved the rest of the role in his mouth. I watched him to make sure he was okay until a voice calling my name made me look elsewhere.

"Uh, Rhuen," the Watcher said as if he was about to say something I wasn't going to like, "Willow is correct about us not knowing much about your species. Perhaps if you are willing you can tell us a bit about yourself and your people."

He sounded very hopeful. All eye had come to rest on me, waiting for an answer. I took a bite of chicken while I thought about what I was going to say. Finally I replied with my own question. "If I tell you a little about myself, will you help Spike and me?"

Eyes left me for the briefest of moments to search each other. After seeing the silent conversation I got my answer from the Slayer. "If you answer Giles' questions and help me in a fight if I need it, yes, we'll help you."

I nodded to her. "Thank you, Slayer."

"Call me Buffy."

"Buffy. Thank you."

The silence was shattered by Xander. "Ah, this is just like the old days. The gang's all here and working together. Even Angel helped." Suddenly, he looked afraid and peered in Buffy's direction.

Buffy looked shocked at first. "Angel? Angel was here?" After that, she just looked pissed.

"What's the problem?" I asked. "Do you want to kill him or something?"

Spike started cracking up next to me. I hadn't seen him laugh this hard in a long time. Through his hysterical giggles I got a story. "Yeah bloody right- hehe - She already did that- pfft -More likely she wants to shag Peaches again."

Buffy was up and had punched Spike in the nose before I knew what was going on. She was going in for another hit when I grabbed her fist. "That's enough," I said firmly. "He can't fight back." Buffy pulled her fist away and sat back down, knowing I was right.

"So," I said, trying to figure out her reaction, "you and Angel used to be a thing."

"Yeah, a pretty big thing."

"Oh," I shrugged. "That's cool."

"You don't seem too surprised," observed Willow.

"Why should I be?" I asked. "She's not the first Slayer to get it on with a vampire."

"I'm not?"

"She's not," Giles said.

Eyes shifted between him and me. Luckily they ended up staying on him. And there he went with the cleaning of the glasses. "There are two other Slayers to my knowledge that had relations with vampires, but they both met their demise from it."

"Their boyfriends ate them?" asked Xander.

"One did," Giles conceded. "The other was ended for safety reasons by... the council."

You could hear a pin drop.

"I knew her," I whispered, earning attention again. "In my existence I've seen four Slayers, including Buffy. I've only met two. She was the other one."

"What was she like," the current Slayer asked about her former.

"She was very brave," I said, remembering the Victorian Slayer I'd met before I found Spike. I remember that in order for her to fight in the male governed word that she dressed as a man. I saw the night she was killed in front of her vampire's eyes in my mind again. "She was very brave and very in love. Her vampire adored her, as well. He went mad after her death. I ended up being the one who put him out of his misery."

Everyone but Spike looked shocked. "What?" Was a common question asked.

"You've killed a vampire?" Xander asked.

"No, dear," Anya said cheerily, "She's killed hundreds."

Everyone looked at me in confusion. "Wait, I'm lost," said Buffy.

"I think we all are. Rhuen, you've killed vampires but you and Spike are on friendly terms?" asked a befuddled Giles.

"Yeah. Long story short, before I met Spike I use to hate and kill all vampires. The Slayer's insane lover was one of the harder ones to kill because he was so animalistic. He had nothing left to lose. Personally I don't see the thing Slayers have for vampires. Not my type."

Again, I received blank stares. I sighed in exasperation. "What? Did I stutter or something?"

"No, it's not that. I's just... well we assumed..."

"Willow, spit it out!"

"Don't be daft, sweet," Spike spoke up. His nose had stopped bleeding a while ago but he'd been busy trying to lap the blood that had poured from his nose up. "Red thinks we're a couple."

I couldn't stop laughing.

"Th-that's about th-the most huh-huh-hilarious thing I've ever heard!" I blurted out, choking on the words as I laughed. When I calmed myself, I explained better. "Though I'm able to feel emotions, Guardians can't take actions in their feelings. I'm the only exception for an unknown reason. The thing is, even though I can feel and show love, it's against angelic law to express romantic feelings for your Charge."

"That's a dumb law," Anya said, sounding very sure of herself. "You should be free to love who you want."

"Maybe it is, maybe it's not. The last time an angel fell in love with his Charge it cause a war and many of our kind were slaughtered because of it. That's why the law was put into place. Beside, Spike's not my type."

"I'm everyone's type."

Everyone ignored Spike and the conversation was moved on by Giles. "I've only heard of one angelic war and that's said to have taken place during biblical times."

"Watcher, the war I'm speaking of took place only a hundred years before the Victorian era. And let me tell you, it wasn't a pleasant time."

"You were there?" he questioned further.

I ran a finger over a long, faint scar that trails down my arm. Memories flashed to my mind, pulling images of fallen soldiers of heaven to my eyes. I became lost in their bloody depths. "I was."

Spike either decided to help me out or he just wanted to be his normal pain in everyone's sides. I didn't really care because it drew attention away from me so I could mourn silently for the dead.

"Well, I don't know about you lot but the vampire would like to get to a dark room before Mr. Sunshine comes out to play."

Protection mode snapped me out of my grotesque thoughts. "Is there a room here without windows?"

"And a bed?" Spike added.

"The only windowless room in my flat is the bathroom..."

Spike and I responded at the exact same time with totally different answers.

"That works."

"Bugger that!"

"Spike, you've slept in worse places than a bathtub," I argued.

"No I haven't!"

"Yes, you have."

"Name one time!"

"Spike, you've slept in an alley in New York."

"But this isn't even a normal tub, Rhuen! It's Rupe's." He tried to do that pleading face that usually wins me over. Usually. Today, that wasn't going to fly.

"Spike, you'll be fine. And if you keep complaining, I'll _make_ you go. And I can do that, so don't even pretend I can't."

He pulled the fish face, his dropped jaw hanging loose while it opened and closed as he tried to form words to describe his indignation. It was my luck he didn't push it any further. He just shut his mouth nice and tight so it looked like his jawbone was going to break.

I tried to be nice and lighten the mood. After all, it's the first time I'd gotten to be around him for more than a few moments since the night we went our separate ways. I patted him on the shoulder. "As soon as you get set in, I'll run out and get you some blood, okay?"

That got his attention. I knew he'd complain for a long time about this, but the promise of blood to a starved vampire will always motivate him.

Finished with my plate, I pushed it forward and got up to stand behind him. I untied his hands slowly to not irritate the skin there any more than it already had been. Raw red marks bit into his pale skin from where the ropes had been. They must have jerked him around when his chair went down in the fight. I apologized to Spike in a whisper so low only he could hear it.

He didn't say anything back. He did acknowledge me, however by leaning his head back slightly so that our ears brushed. When his hands were free, he got up and rubbed his wrists. I knew it had nothing to do with circulation and that he was just trying to hide the marks from the others in the room.

Giles stood up tossing the napkin that had been in his lap on the empty plate that he'd finished with. "I'll lead you there," he said, rounding the corner of the house. I took Spikes wrist in mine gently, trying to make it look like I was leading him so his macho pride wouldn't be hurt.

We came upon a nice sized little bathroom with a large tub. Spike slowed up when he came through the door and I had to pull a little harder to keep him moving. Though he looked indifferent to the rest of the world, his emotions and body language *screamed* he didn't want to be here.

"Come on, Spike. Just stay here and I'll go out and get you some blood, okay?"

The vampire nodded and climbed into the bathtub. He even managed to do it with some bad boy swagger, though I couldn't tell you how. I thought all was going to be okay until Buffy entered the room with an armful of chains.

Spike eyed her warily. "Like hell," he spat, "Like sodding hell."

I shot her a look that said _Really? You just _had_ to go and make my job harder?_ She shrugged. "I'm not leaving this house with a vampire that killed hundreds of people on the loose to hurt Giles," she explained.

I sighed. I didn't want to see her side of things, but I did. "Spike-" I started.

"Don't even, Rhuen. Don't ask me to let myself to be chained like a dog. It's not going to happen, sweet."

"I'm sorry, but we don't really have a choice. I'll be here to make sure nothing happens to you, but you have to let her do this. Please, Spike. Just do this for me tonight and then we'll see about something later."

He tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy. "Fine," he allowed, "but I want you to do it. Not the Slayer."

I nodded to him and turned to Buffy with my hands out to take the chains. She didn't look too happy, but she passed them to me without a word. I guess she figured she'd rather not have to fight with Spike all night if I could get him to agree to almost anything.

They were heavy and clinked when I moved them. I didn't like restraining Spike any more than he already had been in the last few days, but it had to be done. I bent down into a crouch and wrapped the free end around the leg of the tub. A latch allowed me to lock it to the leg so it wouldn't break free.

My hand trailed up the length of chain to where the larger manacles were for his ankles. Spike's expression was stony as I put them on over his boots but I felt his whole body tense. Spike had never been into the bondage thing, even when it was with Drusilla. He had enough bad experiences with it that nothing she'd done had made being restrained a pleasure for him. It made me hate doing this to him even more.

I went for his hands next, making sure the manacles weren't tight enough to cut into his wrists. The poor guy's been through enough the past two days that I didn't want to make it any worse. I gave his hand a quick reassuring squeeze when I was done and moved out of his way. I gave him a smile as Giles, Buffy and I filed out of the room.

Willow had left while we were out of the room and Xander and Anya looked like they were ready to go, too. Anya came over to me and gave me a hug, patting my back while she spoke. "It's good to see you again, Rhuen. I hope we get to become good friends again."

I separated myself from her, holding her at arm's length. It wasn't personal. I'm just not a touchy-feely person. Through my first hundred years of existence only one person had shown me kind physical contact, so I was still a little skittish of it.

"Of course we will, Anya. I've missed you, as well. I'll see you tomorrow," I said, trying to get her out of here. I still had a long night to go with the Slayer and her watcher. Anya left me with a bright smile and took Xander's arm. He seemed to be feeling a little better, but he still leaned on her as they left. When the door had shut I sat on the couch, ready for a long conversation.

"Rhuen, I assume you'll be staying here as well as Spike," Giles said matter-of-factly.

"I would like to, yes. I won't be a bother. In fact, I'm willing to offer my help if you need it."

"That's fine," he said, giving a shy smile. I don't get it, but many people have told me I'm likable. I personally don't think so, but if I get what I need, I don't care. "The only place for you to sleep will be the couch," he continued.

"That won't be a problem, sir. I don't need to sleep."

Both he and Buffy looked startled at this, but regained their composure quickly. "Either way," Giles said, "the couch is your space. Now, it's been a very long day so I think I'll turn in. I'll see you ladies tomorrow."

He got up and wearily climbed the stairs and I was left with the Slayer. I didn't really know what to do, so I let her talk first. She seemed to be feeling just as awkward as me, but that didn't stop her.

"So... there's really nothing going on between you and Spike?"

I started cracking up again. "Hell no! I mean, he's my best friend. Just friend. Nothing more and never will be. I mean, how weird would that be?"

"Weird, I guess?"

"I would be like you dating Xander."

She got very pale. "Yeah, that would be weird."

"I know, right? By the way, why did you ask? Do you have a thing for Spike or something?"

Now _she_ started laughing. "Oh, no! Never! You know how gross that would be? I was just wondering because every time Spike shows up with a girl, they're dating."

"Oh," I said. What really was there for me to say? I never liked any of the girls Spike was with. Sure, I felt bad for Drusilla, but still don't like her. She'd cheat on Spike in an instant. And the blond bimbo I saw in my vision that he's currently with? I've never met the chick and I can tell I don't like her. He scraped the bottom of the barrel with that one.

But I wouldn't complain. Spike is a big boy and he can do what he wants. Sometimes he use to try and get me to say how cute he and Dru were, but I would never lie to him. I never said how freaking wonderful they were, like he wanted me to. I never thought she was good enough for him.

"Yeah..." she said, filling in the silence.

I looked to her, a truly happy smile on my face. Not a grin or anything, just a small one. "Did we just have a friend-like moment?"

"Think we did," she said smiling back. The silence was now a bit more comfortable, but Buffy stood to leave anyway. "I need to get back to the dorm soon or Willow's going to get worried about me. I'll see you to tomorrow, Rhuen."

"See you later. Oh and, Buffy," I said, stopping her as she closed the door, "I know you don't like Spike and I'm not asking you to, but I am asking you to be patient with him. He's been through a lot for the past few days and this isn't easy for him. So please, just humor him."

She mulled it over in her head for a moment until she came to a decision and nodded slowly. Then she closed the door and left me in the silent house.

Well, the house was _almost_ silent. I could hear someone pulling at chains and muttering curses not so under his breath. I sighed. Spike was going to be at that all night.

Without a second thought, I pulled myself off the couch and made the trek to the bathroom. I didn't bother knocking and I just went in. The sight I came upon could almost be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Spike was thrashing around in the bathtub, trying to yank free of the chains that held him there. He made small growling sounds as he pulled and cursed every few seconds.

I leaned against the door watching from where I'd come in. "You're never going to break those, dum-dum."

He looked up at me, just noticing I'd entered. His eyes were icy cold and accusatory. "It's your fault they're on in the first place."

My jaw almost dropped. "_My_ fault? How's it my fault?"

"You're the one who wanted to come here and get buddy-buddy with the Slayer and her little gang."

"You're the one who had gotten himself abducted by the frigging government! They're complete idiots can't manage to do anything, and they managed to catch you!"

"Yeah? Well if you'd been there to do your job I wouldn't have been in that situation!"

"Don't you blame _that_ on me, too, Spike! You're the one who sent me away. That was your fault."

"I did that for you," he said in his cocky voice.

"Bull, Spike. That's bull. You did if for Drusilla and that's all there is to it. I love how you're able to see everyone else's faults and truths but you can never see your own. That's fine, though. I'll leave right now and I won't come back unless I have to come save your sorry ass again. Until then, you won't hear from me."

I turned to leave. He'd gotten me so worked up I was scared if I stayed in the same room with him I'd try to hurt him. I was visibly shaking with rage as my hand gripped the knob on the door. A small broken voice stopped me in my tracks.

"You said you would stay with me while we were here. That you wouldn't let them do anything to me. If you leave... I don't know what they'll do."

I was still tense as hell, but I hadn't left yet.

"Rhuen, stay with me?"

I still didn't move.

"Please?"

I took a deep breath and turned around, running a hand through my hair. "Spike, how come you manage to bring the worst out in me?"

He smiled. "Talent?"

I smiled back and sat on the toilet seat next to the tub, leaning back to support my spine. My eyes closed not because I was tired but because I didn't want to look at him. His voice drew me from my thoughts.

"Rhuen, why did you come to get me? I mean, they weren't planning on killing me so you didn't _have_ to come. You could have left me there until they planned to dust me. Why didn't you?

I opened my eyes to see William's looking up at me, so innocent like the first night I'd looked into them. I knew my answer.

"I don't like it when my friends are hurt."


	3. Something Blue

**Even If Saving You Sends Me To Heaven**

**By wolfgal97**

**Something Blue**

Though I didn't sleep, I stayed with Spike while he slept out the day. It wasn't until around noon that I heard the door close as someone came inside. A knock at the bathroom door stirred me from my thoughts. When things got very still and quiet, my mind always thinks about the war.

I had been resting my head on the edge of the bathtub, but I must have moved at some point during my daydreams because it had come to rest on Spike's shoulder. I sat up as the door opened to reveal the watcher.

"Hello," I said, trying to be polite. At least I knew my people skills, as bad as they may be, are better than Spike's.

"Hello, Rhuen. I was wondering if you were feeling up to talking a little. I figured it may be more comfortable to talk about yourself without everyone else here."

I stretched my arms above my head and heard my back pop. _Note to self; don't sleep in bathrooms if possible_. I stood up and came to meet up with him as he led to the sofa. I took a peek at Spike who seemed to be sleeping before shutting the door, only leaving it open a crack.

Giles took a set in the single chair so I flopped down on the sofa, stretching out my kinked up muscles. When I stopped moving and got in a comfortable position and turned my attention to the watcher. He was watching me with a fascinated look on his face, like my next words would decide if he lived or died or something.

I decided to jump right in on basic stuff so I didn't have to talk about my past. "Do you know anything about angel and vampires and how they interact with each other in most cases?"

"Well, we have more information in the latter species," the man said while cleaning his glasses. "All we have on angels is some information about an ancient battle hundreds of years ago just before the Victorian era like you said, some theories about Guardians and a few whispers here and there about an angel that went around killing demons. She didn't have a name, so I doubt her existence."

Wow, was he off on that last part. "I assumed you spent the day pouring over your angel resources?" He nodded and I went on, though I wasn't thrilled about it. "I can only say a few things so that his future isn't effected, " I said, glancing to the door to the room where the sleeping vampire was, "but I'll tell you what I can."

"That's wonderful! Just wait for a moment while I get my-" he trailed off while running around to get a pen and some paper. I smiled at his manic rampage of the room to get supplies. It was endearing to see someone so excited about something. He got what he needed and settled back down in his chair. "Would you mind telling me about your own background?"

_Yeah, I mind a lot_. "Actually, to start I need to ask you a question that might blow your mind. How do you think that vampires came to be?"

He gave me a blank look for a moment before going into his explanation. "The vampires of today evolved from a Viking-like bloodthirsty monster named the Turok-han. From where the beast that is now extinct came from, we have no clue."

I almost laughed, but controlled my expression. The council had been running off of _that_ for all these years?

"You watchers are right about the evolution bit, but you'll never guess where every vampire of today came trace his roots to." I paused to try and let him figure things out, but his expression was still clueless. I filled him in. "Angels. All vampires come from angels."

_"What?"_

"Odd, isn't it? Only a few beings in existence know this, even the angels. Many of us don't care about our history when it goes into dark nasty places no one wants to remember. If we don't talk about it, it seems it never happened. But it's true. Let me prove it. I'm the only angel you've seen, so I'll have to be your model. To humans, I'm supposed to be considered beautiful."

"Well, yes, th-that's obvious," he agreed while looking embarrassed at the conversations turn. I blushed at the compliment and bowed my head in modesty.

"As I was saying, have you ever seen an unattractive vampire? I mean, be honest. There's a reason master vampires prey upon young, good looking leaders to sire. If a vampire is going to take the time to raise a fledgling, they are very specific about who they chose. Sure, no one cares about minions, but future master vampires are chosen carefully for their physical appearance."

Giles remained quiet, realizing I was right.

"Take the vampires I used to run with for example. Darla, the matriarch of the Whirlwind was very beautiful for a human. She sold her body for a living. Drusilla, though insane, is an exotic beauty. Angelus, well his name describes how beautiful he is. They don't lie. That boy is good looking."

A growl came from the bathroom. "That's bollocks, Rhuen!" I giggled at Spike's reaction. Though there's nothing going on between Spike and I, he gets jealous when I say anything good about his grandsire.

"It's okay, Spike! We all know you're the best looking!" I called to the vampire in the other room. My tone was light to let him know I was teasing.

"Damn right, I'm better looking. And don't you forget it!"

I rolled my eyes while smiling at the vampire's antics before going back into the conversation. "And yeah, Spike is Spike. Anyway, that's what happened. There's been three angelic wars ever and I've seen one of them. Michael's been through all three and came out kicking. This one-"

"Hold on just a moment. By Michael, you don't mean-"

"Archangel of war? The guy who beat Satan? Yeah, him."

"You personally know Michael?"

I shrugged. To me, it was only a little bit of a big deal. Though not many angels of a lower class spend time with archangels, I do. Michael had wanted to reward me for my efforts in the war. That's how I got the Guardian job. Since then, he's acted as a brother figure to me, guiding me. Though I appreciate his efforts, I don't like all the attention I get. "Michael has helped me out many times. I owe much to him. In a way, he acts like a big brother to me. He's the reason I have the possibility of becoming an Archangel when I complete my mission with Spike."

"You'll become an archangel?"

"Yep. Now, back to the story. Where was I?"

"The war that made fallen angels and the first vamps, sweet."

"Thanks, Spike! So this angel named Lucifer decided he was better and would be in charge. This, as you can figure out, didn't pan out for him. Though he had a group of followers, the rest of us angels kicked him and the others out of heaven. They were the first fallen. They were stripped of their wings and cast into hell where they were mutilated and turned into demons. It was whole nasty ordeal."

"I can see why," the pale faced man said.

"After they spent time in hell and they came out as demons, they still craved the beauty of angelic faces. They wanted good things, but they wanted them to be evil. They were bloodthirsty monsters who believed feeding off the blood of the attractive would make them look better when it in fact made them more monstrous. They grew to enjoy the taste and they began to need the taste of blood to survive. Thus you got the Turok-han."

"I can't believe over all these years that not a soul knew..."

"I know, right? Oh well. Anything else you want to know about?"

"Uh, well ye-yes. Is there anything you can tell me about Guardian abilities?"

I pulled myself up off the couch to stand still, letting my wings come out to fold behind my back. "Step right up and examine your own angel."

I stood at attention like I did in my soldier days, deadly still. The watcher got a joyful gleam in his eyes as he came to look me over. Light as a breeze his fingers traveled over my wings, feeling the silver feathers. He kept saying compliments like "remarkable" and, "extraordinary."

I blushed at the nice words, but what I was about to do next would get me some more. "Don't touch them for a second. When I say it's okay, you can feel them again, but you have to be very careful." When his hand was off my wings I focused very hard on forcing the feathers to become metallic and blade-like. I nodded to let him know he could feel them again and when he did I heard him breathe in quickly.

He moved over to the end table and pulled a tissue out of the box that rested there. He wrapped the fabric around the tip of his finger, but I could still the red pooling through the cotton. I sighed and crossed my arms. "I told you to be careful."

"I-I didn't know. That's remarkable. They look the same as before when they felt like feathers."

"Just a small miracle that Guardians can do. They're indestructible. Not even bullets can puncture them. The only thing that can break angel wings is something very powerful such as another angel or a demon. A vampire could manage it if he was strong."

"An appendage like that, it would most likely hurt more to break your wing than to lose an arm."

"Ooh, yeah. You got _that_ right. Breaking a wing hurts like hell."

His eyes fixed on me and I realized I had let some of my personal history come out. I didn't say anything and waited for the question that I knew was coming. "What broke your wing?"

"Correction," I said, trying to sound like it didn't matter, "wings. Both of them were broken in the war. I took on someone that should've killed me but instead of dying I got my wings broken instead. Sometimes I wonder if death would've been less painful."

Silence. Not a word was said from Giles and nothing came from the bathroom. Spike had known they'd been broken before, but he didn't know from what. Even though Spike and I knew more about each other than anyone else knew, I hadn't told him much about my days as a soldier.

"I'm sorry," Giles said quietly, "I didn't mean to pry into bad memories."

"It's fine. I just don't like remembering it."

He nodded, "That's understandable. I've pressed you too much. I'll leave you alone for a while."

Before I could tell him I was fine and that we could continue if he wanted he went up the stairs. I had a feeling he had a hard time dealing with awkward situations. I wondered to the kitchen to see if anything looked like it was worth eating. Though I didn't _have _to eat, I did like to when I got bored.

I found some chips and even a little blood for Spike. I don't know why I did it but I checked over my shoulder at the stairs. Giles must have gone out and gotten some for him while Spike and I were together in the bathroom. I felt my eyebrows raise in surprise, but I shook it off and poured him a cup.

I took our munchies into the bathroom where he was lounging in the tub with his eyes closed. I saw him sniff the air once and his eyes shot open. He had smelt the blood. His eyes were the gold of the demon's and they flashed in the light as I got closer to him.

I took a seat on the edge of the tub and balanced by crossing my legs. I handed the mug down to him and he snatched it away from my grasp in a motion human eyes wouldn't have been able to see. He tried to bring it to his lips but the chains around his wrists snapped taut, so his lips came to the cup.

"Well someone was hungry," I commented dryly as he drained the mug. I was worried that he'd been so starved, but the fact that only his eyes had reverted to the demon made me feel a little bit better.

He nodded and seemed to be in a better mood. The small amount of blood had done wonders. His skin looked less like transparent paper and more like the cool marble it usually looked like. His eyes had returned to their bright blue and the dark shadows under them were almost gone. He was even almost smiling until he saw what was written on the mug he'd drank out of.

"Really, Rhuen? Kiss the librarian? You couldn't find _any_ other cuppa?"

I grinned at him. "Nope, I was too lazy."

"Of course you were." We sat in comfortable silence for a moment before his big mouth ruined it. "You never told me how your wings were broken."

"It doesn't matter," I said quietly.

"Yes, it bloody does. I've known you all my unlife and you _never_ told me anything about the war. All I know was you did something that landed you the wonderful job of taking care of me. I didn't know you'd gotten hurt."

"It was a long time ago. I healed, so it doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does," said fervently.

"Spike, don't get weepy on me."

"I'm not cryin', you silly bint."

I rolled my eyes and munched on a chip. I noticed he was eying the bag so I held it out to him. He reached in and grabbed a few before tossing them in his mouth. He managed to talk around all that food. "Point is, you tell the watcher who you just met stuff you've never even told _me_. What's going on there?"

"Spike, we haven't talked in so long, did you ever figure I just didn't know you would care?"

That hurt. I could see it did. He didn't even bother hiding the pained expression, it had hurt so much. I groaned, not wanting to talk about this, but I couldn't just hurt his feelings like that and not try to make him feel better. I guess over all the years of making sure he didn't die I'd grown attached.

"C'mon, scooch," I said climbing into the tub with him. He moved over to make room for me and I used his left shoulder as a headrest. "This is going to be a long story. Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Very. Now get talking." Mr. Macho was back on.

"Okay then, you big baby. Everything for me started out during the Hell Wars. Before that, I was just an emotionless soldier who trained every day to die. That's all there is for that class. We were taught to kill and to be killed. It's one of the reasons Soldiers have no emotions. They can feel pain, but they won't show it. They won't break if someone tries to get information from them."

He leaned into me a little more. I knew he'd seen and even done terrible things in his time, but Spike didn't like hearing about people he cares about getting hurt. I knew this, but he'd asked for the story, so I was going to give it to him.

"One day, we went to war against these very powerful demons. I don't really want to go into detail about this part, but basically us Soldiers were told to attack the smaller demons fighting for them and to leave the bosses to Tora, Raphael, Michael, Gabriel and Jex, the Archangels. That battle has left me with haunted memories today. I remember that there was this female demon attacking Michael while he went after her brother. I knew he couldn't take on two, so I broke orders and went after her. I don't even know how or why I did it. All I knew was that I had something that needed to be done and that I was the one to do it."

"That attitude can get you killed, sweet."

"It almost did. Though I had fought her with everything I had, she still won. But not before I'd managed to do some damage to her, as well. We both looked like crap afterwards, but I was definitely the one closest to dying. She snapped both my wings in half and was just about to snap my neck when Michael came and killed her. He had managed to kill her brother because I'd distracted her."

"I bet it hurt," Spike said quietly. I don't know who had taken whose hand because I only realized we were holding hands when the metal of the cuffs bumped into my wrist.

"Yeah, it really did. I can't even describe... It was bad, okay? After that, Michael picked me up and took me back to heaven where I was celebrated as a war hero. He and the other Archangels decided that because I'd almost given up my life that I deserved a reward. When I could fly again without pain, they made me a Guardian and said that if I completed my mission that I would be made into an Archangel."

"And then you found me."

"Actually, I killed a few hundred demons in revenge for not killing the girl who broke me. Do you know what the most horrible thing about breaking my wings was, Spike?"

He shook his head no.

"Because I couldn't act out on emotions, the emotions of pain, I couldn't even scream when they were broken. All I could do was bite into the side of my mouth until I tasted my own blood. I think I was actually hoping I would drown on it just to spite her by not allowing her to finish me off."

Spike got very still and I knew he didn't want to hear all this, but I had to get it out. "I don't even know what happened to her, you know. I heard that Michael didn't kill her because he was focused on making sure I didn't die. She may still be out there, somewhere..."

"Don't think that," he said, his voice thick with emotion. We just sat there holding each other until the door opened and a confused looking Buffy came in.

"Am I interrupting something here?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"Yes," he said. I shot him a confused look. What more was there for me to tell him? I sighed and his answer changed, but I don't know why he seemed reluctant to let it go. "I guess not."

"Good, 'cause I got a lot of questions for you. Hungry?"

"No," he lied quickly, but that fell through when his stomach started growling. I picked up his cup and tossed it to Buffy who passed it to Giles. The watcher turned his nose up at it, but wen to go fill it up. Buffy remained and sat on the edge of the tub. I felt Spike lean into me, but I got out of the bath and sat on my place on the toilet.

He sent me a glare as Buffy started to ask questions. "Okay, Spike. Did you get a look at their faces?"

The vampire pondered the question for a moment before giving her a short, "Yes."

Buffy gave him a significant look that obviously asked what they looked like, but Spike pretended he didn't see. She sighed. "So... what did they look like?"

Spike examined his chipped fingernails. "Don't rightly know."

Buffy rolled her eyes, getting more than a little annoyed. "You saw their faces, but you can't describe them."

"Well... They were human... two eyes each, kind of in the middle." How did a vampire chained in a bathtub manage to sound bored?

Buffy tried a new angel. "Uh-huh. And the lab...?"

"Underground." She gave him a dirty look that would stake a lesser vampire. He got the idea her patience was wearing thin. "We came out through an air vent, I don't know exactly where. I'm done."

"We?"

_Thanks, Spike. You brought _me_ into it._ Buffy's gaze was on me and I knew it was my time to answer up. "Well, _someone_ had to go in and get his sorry carcass," said, only half teasing.

Giles has perfect timing. Just as Buffy was about to ask something else, he came in bearing blood. He passed the warm mug to me and I minded the bendy-straw. I handed it over to Spike and he began to sip on it daintily.

"So, Rhuen, can _you_ describe out commandos?" the Slayer asked, green eyes never leaving me. I felt a little awkward with all the attention.

"Well," I began, "most of them were wearing masks. All but three. They were young looking, not any older than twenty five. Two had dark hair and one had none. The bald one was black. I didn't recognize them, so that's all I got in that department."

"Yeah," Spike cut in, "'cause there's only a country full of people fitting _that_ description. Honestly, Rhuen, I don't know why you bother."

"Better than you could do," I challenged.

"How long are you going to pull this crap?" Buffy butted in.

Spike's eyes narrowed impossibly into sapphire slits. "How long am I going to live once I tell you?"

I raised my hand and dropped them in exasperation. "What am I? The pizza girl? Does the term _Guardian angel_ mean _nothing_ to you?"

Everyone seemed surprised at my outburst, but Giles interrupted before I could get on a rant. I'm like Spike that way. Once I get going, I never shut up.

"Spike, we've no intention of killing a harmless creature. But we need to know what's been done to you. We can't let you go until we're sure you're impotent."

"Hey," an offended vampire growled.

"Sorry. Poor choice of words. 'Til we know you're..." He trailed off looking for another word to describe Spike's chipped situation that Buffy was happy to supply.

"Flaccid?"

_That_ did it. "You are _one_ step away, missy!"

"Giles, help! He's gonna scold me!" Buddy said mockingly.

By this point, I was barely able to hold in my hysterical giggles. Spike just looked pissed and lunged for the Slayer, but those nifty little chains held him back. That sobered me up and I felt sorry for the idiot again. My tummy still ached from the silent laughter, but I ignored it.

"You know what?" she asked, "I think you don't want us to let you go. Maybe we made it too comfy here."

"Comfy? Do I look comfy? I'm chained in a bathtub drinkin' pig's blood from a novelty mug. Doesn't rate high in the Zagat's guide."

I rolled my eyes and continued to watch the show. Spike and his undying sarcasm is going to get him in trouble one day. Before you know it, he'll be smarting off to someone who'll knock some sense into him. At this rate, it may even be _me_.

"Maybe you'd like something better," the Slayer said. I was confused by her meaning until she pulled on the sleeve of her shirt, exposing her throat to him. I raised my eyebrows. There was no way she was really offering him _that_!

But she went on. "Oh, look at my poor neck, all bare and exposed!"

Spike wanted it. Oh, he wanted it. I could feel his emotions and I was even a bit creeped out to find he was turned on! I mean really, he must have a thing for girls who beat the crap out of him. Drusilla had never been a gentle lover.

He leaned in her direction, almost licking his lips. He wanted her blood so much, it was overpowering any thought in his head. That is, until he saw the disapproving look I was giving him. Instantly, killer vampire went away and whiny child came out. "Giles, Rhuen, make her stop!"

We took that as our cue to leave. Quickly as we could, we weaseled out way out the door to the freedom of the spacious living room. Willow sitting cross-legged on the floor, reading some very old looking books. I went to flop down on the couch while Giles stood with his hands on his hips. "If those two don't kill each other, I might lend a hand," he sighed.

I rolled onto my back getting comfy. "Amen," I agreed.

I kind of relaxed and dozed off until I heard Willow's voice cut through the fog of my thoughts.

"What about a truth spell? I'm not positive it would work on a vampire, but we could try. Make him fess up?"

"No," I said firmly.

"What? Why?" asked Giles.

Keeping my eyes closed, I replied. "Spike _hates_ magic. He doesn't fear it or anything. He just has a healthy respect of it. In both of our past experiences, the less done with magic, the better. So, no truth spells will be done on my vampire."

My vampire? Since when did I get so possessive of bat boy? I kind of shrugged to myself.

"Rhuen, we need answers. You weren't there as long as he was so he can give us better descriptions of the goings on there. You saw not five minutes ago. Spike is not willing to voluntarily help us."

I thought about it. I see what he means about Spike not helping out, but should I really let them use magic for it? I didn't really like the idea, but as long as I'm there, how bad could a little truth spell go?

Still with my eyes closed, I nodded. "Fine, you can do the spell as long as I'm there. I see anything I don't like, I end it. Clear?"

"Sure thing!" Willow said, closing her books. "It looks simple enough. I'll run by the magic shop and grab some supplies so we can do it tomorrow, okay?"

"Works for me," I drawled, rolling to my side with my hand under my head as a pillow. Willow said goodbye and left, but I could still feel eyes on me. "Something on my face, Giles?"

"What? Oh, um, no. I just remember you saying that angels don't sleep..."

"Mmm, I'm not sleeping. Just resting." To prove my point, my eyes popped open to rest on him. I sat up. "Let go check on the vampire." _Not my vampire. _The_ vampire*._

Giles followed me to the bathroom where I about broke into crazed giggles again. Buffy was feeding Spike, holding the blood as far as she possibly could while he gave her a death glare so picture worthy, it was a shame he wouldn't show up if I took it.

Giles removed his glasses and spoke to Buffy. "Willow had a helpful idea. I think she's doing better with Oz's departure, don't you?"

Buffy looked to him and kind of shrugged. "It's be hard, but yeah. I think she's dealing."

"What, are you people blind? She's hangin' on by a thread. Any ninny can see that," put in Spike while sucking around the straw with one side of his mouth in order to talk.

I rolled my eyes. "Do you _ever_ shut up?"

"One-hundred and twenty-six years and you _still_ don't know the answer to that? Rhuen, I pegged you for intelligent."

I gave him a dirty look. "Ha ha, very funny," I deadpanned. "Be nice? Answer their questions?"

"Why should I?"

"Maybe, if you're good, I'll get you a TV in here."

Spike's answer was immediate. He looked to the Slayer and asked, "Whad'ya want to know, pet?"

Her mouth almost dropped open and she looked to me for an explanation. I merely smirked. I know my vampire.

* * *

Spike strained against his chains to reach the TV knob. When it remained out his grasp, he growled. "Come on, now! It's telly time! Rhuen, help a vampire out?"

I sighed and rubbed my temples in attempt to get rid of the headache pounding through my skull. Why the hell did I get him a TV, again?

"Passions is on! If you make me miss it, I'll-"

"You'll what?" I hissed, tired of hearing him whining. "What will you do? I don't want to hear it anymore, Spike."

"Turn on the telly and I'll shut up."

I flipped on the TV in a desperate attempt to shut him up. I was alone in the house with the annoying vampire. Giles had left me alone with my Charge while he went out to see what was keeping Willow from showing up to do the truth spell on Spike. Personally, I was glad the spell had been delayed as I hadn't told Spike about it yet. I did _not_ want to hear that battle.

On the other hand, I hopped nothing bad had happened to the witch. I hadn't spent much time with any of the Slayer's team since I'd got here other than Giles. She seemed nice enough, though. If Spike and I stuck around long enough, I'm pretty sure I'd grow emotionally attached.

"Hey, Rhuen, since ol' Rupe is out, why do you let us stretch our legs, yeah?"

He was giving me that look. You know, the look that makes you want to do anything for him because he looks like an adorable puppy that just chewed through your slippers, complete with head tilt and all.

Plus, I already felt bad for him. The guys been stuck in the tub for almost a full day now. I can see why he would want to stretch his legs a bit.

I took Spike's hand and pulled it closer to me so I could release the cuff on his wrists. The clinked softly against the side of the porcelain tub. Though he had no circulation, he rubbed his wrists where the metal had been.

Grinning wryly, he went for the shackles around his ankles. As soon as he was free of those, he hopped out of the tub with supernatural speed that only vampires like him possessed. I grabbed his arm with a supernatural speed only angels like _me_ possess before he hit the door.

"Spike? I trust you, you know?"

Honest blue eyes met mine. "I know," he said solemnly.

"Stay in the house, okay? Don't make me hunt you down." He knew I would, too. Spike had a hard head, but a very healthy sense of self preservation. He _also_ knew I could easily kick his ass.

I let him go because I wasn't lying. I _did_ trust him. Funny thing is he did the first thing I would've done. He went for the kitchen.

I took a dive for the couch while he fished around in the refrigerator. I stretched out while he came in the living room. He was crumbling some Weetabix into his cup of blood. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

"What?" he asked while sinking into a chair.

"It's just, after a hundred and twenty-six years, I never got why you put extra crap in your blood."

He shrugged. "It adds texture."

I smirked. "You're a dork."

"At least I keep things interesting," he shot back. One thing I _had_ learned after a hundred and twenty-six years was that Spike loves to argue. That suits me fine because arguing is a favorite pastime of mine.

"You mean you're weird. It's okay. I still accept you," I teased, batting my eyelashes.

"This coming from the sarcastic Guardian. I doubt other angels are as cynical as you."

For some reason that even _I_ don't know, what he said hit home with me. Maybe its because I feel I was close to being Fallen. After all, my language and viewpoint in life _was_ darker than other angels. But...

"That's because no other angel has been through what I have."

He watched me a few moments thinking of what to say to that. Then, slowly, as if to not actually offend someone for once in his unlife, "That's because you're better than the rest of them."

Sweet little moments like that made me wonder if Spike really was an evil, soulless killer. For a few moments, I forgot all the live he'd taken. But then he took a sip from his cup and I remember it was human blood on his lips.

The door opened. Giles came in carrying a paper bag of magic supplies. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at Spike and me. "Oh. He's up," Giles observed.

"Yeah," I said lightly before Spike could insult him, "he wouldn't shut up, even with the TV on. I figured he should stretch his legs a bit."

"Rhuen, he could have gotten out. What if he-"

"And what, Watcher? Gone out for a happy meal with legs and get my brain bug zapped? She was just cuttin' me some slack, so lay off. You can truss me up with chains again when you're good and ready."

I was a bit surprised. Bleach head actually defended me. Happiness expanded in me like a balloon, making me feel a bit lighter.

"Well, that'll be soon, seeing how we need to do the truth spell on you."

Spike looked to me to confirm, betrayal etched on his features. "And I defended you," he said in a mocking way, only half kidding. The balloon had popped and guilt had come to play.

"Spike, it's just a simple truth spell. Don't be a baby. They're going to have me do it, too. Plus, I'll be there for you the whole time. If I see anything going screwy, I'll stop it."

"You _know_ I don't trust magic," he accused.

"Yeah, but you trust me, right?"

That got him. Instantly, he calmed down. "For the most part." I smiled and he sighed. "So when is Red gonna get here to do it?"

Now, Giles looked guilty. His eyes refused to meet any of ours. "Well, you see, she's actually unavailable. It'll just be me doing the spell."

I grew uneasy. "You _have_ done this spell before, right?" I questioned.

He nodded, rubbing his eyes again. "Yes, yes. It's only a simple spell. Nothing to fear."

"Fine," I agreed slowly. "Spike, can you sit still through this or do I need to go get the chains?"

Spike put a hand over his unbeating heart and held up his other hand in the air. "I swear, I'll be not as bad as normal."

Sarcasm was always present in my voice. "Of course you will."

Giles set his bag down on an end table and pulled his glasses off to clean them. "Spike, why don't you come sit over here so that the items for the spell don't get on my furniture." He pointed somewhere general to around the back of my couch. Spike looked like he was going to make a comment, but a look in my direction changed his mind.

Grudgingly, he pulled himself up, setting his cup on the coffee table. He rubbed the palms of his hands on the front of his pants while walking slowly towards the spot Giles had motioned to. I bit my tongue from saying, _"If you go any slower, the dust will beat you."_

While Spike settled down on the floor, I turned around to sit on my knees while looking down at him over the back of the couch. Giles had his back to us, but I could a match being struck. The smell of sage burning told me he'd started.

He turned around, reading from a book and waving the herbs. "Elobe, enemy, be now, quiet. Let your deceitful tongue be..." he trailed off and pulled the book closer to his face, as if having a hard time reading it. After a moment, he tried to continue, " Be.. Uh.. Let no.. Untruths.. Be spoken..." It didn't pan out.

"Hey, what's that all about?" Spike asked cautiously. I was on page with him at the moment. Something was up.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," Giles said, shaking his head, "I just got ash in my eye."

My eyes narrowed. "Giles, are you having trouble seeing? It's fine if you are, but we won't be doing any magic if you can't read the spell."

The older man looked a bit offended. "I'm fine. I just must be tired."

"Fine," I said, pressing a bit of authority in my tone. "Why don't you take a nap and we'll do this later?"

"I can do it now!" He desperately began to read from the book. I knew if this continued something was _definantly_ going to go wrong.

I was getting up to go take the book and sage from him when Spike had like a mini panic attack. I felt a surge of fear that came from him flow through me. Then I felt the fight or flight kick in and I knew just as well as he did that fight was no longer an option...

He was up and out the door before I could get to him, though I'd lept over the couch and gracefully fallen on my face in the process. I was getting up, muttering curses at the vampire as Giles made it to the phone.

I was more hurt by him than anything. Sure, maybe it was just a reaction, but Spike proved he didn't trust me to look after him, though I've never messed up before. That is, unless you count the chip. And that didn't count! It _had_ to happen in order to his future to change.

"Damn it, Spike!" I was annoyed. Why did Spike have to run off like a prissy?

"I'm going after him," I told Giles. He'd already gotten off the phone with Buffy. He'd let her know Spike was on the run.

He nodded and rubbed his bleary eyes again. I went out the door, closing it behind me. I took a leap to the air, letting my wings out. The silver shimmered in the moonlight. I gave one powerful thrust with them that sent me propelling through the air.

It was a bit windy out, so I didn't have to do much flapping to remain up. Mostly I just used the air currents to glide on. I figured I'd save as much energy as possible to beat the hell out of my runaway vampire.

I flew about a mile before I found the jerk. He was standing in a park, looking like a lost puppy. A shadow was sneaking up on him. I was worried it was one of the soldiers, but it was actually just Buffy.

I got to him before she did, landing next to him with a thud. First thing I did was smack him in the back of the head. "You idiot!" I hissed into his ear.

"Ow," he grumbled, rubbing the spot I'd hit.

"Don't ever run off like that again! What if the soldiers had been here and I wasn't? Hmm? What then?"

He glared at me with eyes of ice. "I'd fight them."

"How?" I asked, knowing he couldn't. "What would you do? Toss a migraine at them?"

"I don't need you to baby me, Rhuen!"

"Then don't act like a baby!"

Our scream-off must have kept the Slayer at bay. She stayed far back, watching us with an amused expression. I was anything but.

Spike gave me a defiant look. It was the same one that he used to use on Angelus. That look always earned him a nice thrashing from his grandsire. I didn't like being on the receiving end of that look. It didn't intimidate me like he hopped, but it made me feel guilty for all he suffered and I didn't know...

I didn't want to deal with it. I turned away from him, nodding to Buffy. She took the signal to go bind Spike's hands with the bit of rope she had brought.

"Meet you at Giles' house," I told her before taking to the skies. I did *not* want to endure the long walk back to the house listening to my stupid Charge complain about everything on God's green earth.

I covered the distance a bit slower than finding Spike because I was now going against the wind. It was still faster than the walkers. I landed in the front yard and went in, folding up my wings.

Giles looked towards the direction of the door in my general area. "Did you get Spike back?"

He probably could feel the heat of my anger rolling off me. "I found him around when Buffy did. She's bringing him back," I ground out through my teeth.

The door opened and in came Buffy and Spike having their own verbal battle. I didn't want to hear it, so I went for a snack. I made it to the kitchen and ripped open a cabinet to see what I could munch on. Weetabix. I groaned. Even *human* food reminded me of him!

I gave up and was heading back to the living room when the sight that met my eyes froze me dead on spot.

Buffy was sitting in the very chair Spike had been tied to last night, hand over her mouth and eyes wide with surprise. Holding her other hand and kneeling in front of her was Spike. He was staring into her eyes with... hope? Why was he hopeful?

_What..._

"Just say yes and make me the happiest man in the world," he told Buffy. Say yes? Yes to what? I was totally confused.

"Oh, Spike! Of course it's yes!" Her high pitch and tearful "yes" hurt my ears. I winced, still wondering why he was grinning at her like a bigger idiot than he really is.

_The..._

She jumped him and they kissed. Not a sweet, tender one you read about in books, either. This was a full blown, of the suck-your-face-off variety. It made me nauseous. It made me feel something else, too. I'm guessing seeing red is a bad thing?

_Hell!_

Buffy finally noticed me and grinned, still clinging to _my_ vampire. "Rhuen, look! " she said, holding up a ring finger that bore Spike's silver skull ring. "Isn't it great? We're going to be married!"

Times like this, I wish angels blacked out easily. I didn't know how to respond, so I went with yelling.

"No! No, it's not 'great'! It's terrible! I mean, what the hell? You guys were _just_ fighting not five minutes ago. Now you're getting _married_?"

Buffy looked disappointed. What scared me is the fact Spike actually _cared_. He wasn't acting. He really cared that she was upset. He held her closer to him, giving me a stern look as he lectured. "Rhuen, it's a big day for my girl here. Just because you're jealous-"

"_Jealous_?" I screeched. To this day, I have no clue how he knew what I was feeling when I didn't know it myself.

"If the three of you could remain civil long enough to—" Giles complained while coming in. He stopped and did a double take when he saw Buffy in Spike's arms. He looked to me to explain. "What the bloody hell?"

"My sentiments exactly," I told the Watcher.

"Spike, we need to start planning!" Buffy said, pulling her new fiancé to a lazy boy. She sat him down and grabbed a pen and paper before curling up in his lap. "There's so much to decide."

"Like who to go to for therapy," I muttered. I was pretty sure I was going to need it.

"First things first," Spike said, ignoring my comment, though I knew he heard it, "we're not having a church wedding."

"How 'bout a daytime ceremony. In the park."

"Fabulous. Enjoy your honeymoon with the big pile of dust."

"Under the trees. Indirect sunlight, only."

By this point, I was ready to kill myself. Giles sat next to me on the couch, bearing scotch. I'm not a heavy drinker, but at this point, I was willing to drink myself stupid. He poured two drinks and slid one my way. I pushed it back to him and took the bottle, gulping from it desperately.

"Warm breeze tosses the leaves aside and again — you're registering as Mr and Mrs Big-Pile-of-Dust," Spike continued, having eyes only for his bride to be.

"Stop it!" Buffy whined, hitting his shoulder. "This is our wedding and you're treating it like a big joke!"

"Oh, pouty! Look at that lip... gonna get it... gonna get it..."

I took another sip of the scotch. When I say "sip" I mean glug.

Buffy giggled like a little girl. "Oh, stop it," she teased, kissing him.

"Yes, please do," Giles said weakly. I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

Buffy flaunted her finger. "Did you see my ring, Giles?"

"Thankfully, not well." I knew I was going to like this guy.

Buffy sobered up a little from being so love drunk. She stared seriously at Giles. "I'm not crazy, and I know that you probably don't approve, and my father's not that far away, I mean, he could— but this day is about family — my real family — and I would like you to be the one to give me away."

Giles hard expression of disgust melted into one of fatherly love for the Slayer. I could tell these two were like family to each other. For a moment, even couldn't help but mentally "awww..."

I caught my senses around when Giles did. "Oh, Buffy! That's.. that's so.. Oh! For God's sake! This is nonsense. Something is making you act this way. Don't you realize what you're doing?"

I didn't hear the next few minutes of conversation. Something he had said stuck with me. _"Something is making you act this way."_ That _had_ to be true. Spike wouldn't just up and fall for the Slayer to a whim. Maybe something had made him feel the emotions of love he was feeling.

Maybe someone. A spell caster. A witch. A redhead. A dead redhead.

"Well, where would Angel like to register? And can we have the photographer Angel would've wanted? And, flowers Angel would have liked?" Wait, when did the conversation involve Angel?

"Hey! You think I don't live with the shadow of Drusilla over my head? That I'm not wondering if you're going to be thinking of her on our honeymoon when you're making.. sweet love to me..?"

"Oooohkay! That's enough for the best friend of the groom. I think I need to go check into something. Giles, keep an eye on the love birds while I'm gone." I was out the door as fast as possible, escaping the smacking noises.

I went full flight speeds towards Sunnydale College. Finding the dorm was easy and I didn't even need to find out what the room number was. I just followed the pull of extremely powerful magic. I was surprised to feel two sources. There must be more than one witch at this school.

I got lucky on my first try and found the girl I was looking for sitting on her bed reading. She looked up and smiled shyly, seeing me. "Hey, Rhuen. I wasn't expecting you."

I wasn't in the mood for being pleasant. Spike was making out with the Slayer and it was up to me to save him, pronto. "What did you do?" I asked the witch, my words drawn and deliberate.

"What are you talking about? I haven't done anything."

"Don't play games with me, Willow. I warned you to watch your powers. I even quoted Spiderman, for heaven's sakes."

"Rhuen, I swear, I don't know what you're talking about!"

Why was I so upset at the idea of being betrayed by this girl? She was nothing to me. I had only met her the other day. Why did I feel so betrayed by this? Well, it didn't matter. To not show how upset I was, I put on my mask of sarcasm.

"Really? How is it this morning I wake up with Buffy and Spike wanting to kill each other, all being right and sane with the world, to have it come to an end with her dragging him back to Giles house making out and getting engaged?"

Her face went blank with confusion. "They were making out? Buffy kissed Spike?"

I nodded. "Many, _many _times in many different ways!"

"How do you think it was?"

The question took me off guard. "How should _I_ know?" When did my voice become so shrill?

"I don't know! I-I... I don't know!" Willow pleaded, struggling for words. She wasn't lying. I could see it in her wide, green eyes. She didn't know about a thing I was talking about.

I sighed, running a hand through my loose hair. "Okay, I believe you, but we gotta-"

Something exploded in front of me and I was thrown back. My head cracked on a wall in the just the right spot to do the job. Before my world went black, I remember thinking, "Great, the only time tonight that I _didn't_ want to be knocked out"...

* * *

…"Rhuen? Wake up, Rhuen! Wake up, now!"

Someone was shaking me from the dark. I forced my eyes to open and groaned when the lights burned them. I fought through the haze until I could see the people looming over me.

Spike's wide blue eyes were the first thing I managed to focus on. I was comforted by the sight of his face until I remembered it had been plastered to the Slayer's all night. "What...?" I grumbled. Waking up from hitting your head? Not all it's cracked up to be.

A hand wormed its way under my back and helped me up. It held me in a sitting position as I noticed how cool it felt. "Are you okay?" Spike asked, causing the hand on my back to vibrate.

Suddenly, my head was clear and I was a little spitfire again. Thank you, adrenaline. "Peeled away from your girlfriend long enough to care, did you?" My voice sounded like I had razor blades shoved down my throat. It felt like it, too.

Spike chuckled. "You'll live if you're feeling fine enough to snark. Guess it's a good thing you got a hard head."

"Shut up," I spat, pulling myself to a wobbly standing position to get his traitorous touch off me.

Wait, why was I thinking of him as a traitor? I'd only thought of him like that once before when he was with Drusilla... Now he's with Buffy and... Oh my gosh, I'm really jealous. When did _that _happen?

"Where's Willow?" I only realized later that it had been me that asked the question.

"D'hoffren," Anya answered, gesturing to the giant hole burned into the carpet. "Him taking Willow must have created enough supernatural energy to knock you out."

"D'hoffren has her? But that means-"

"That Willow may become a vengeance demon? Yeah," Anya said, nodding excitedly.

"Anya, you do get how that's a bad thing, right?" Xander asked his girlfriend.

"A very bad thing," I agreed. "We need to find her and fast. I do _not_ want to be going against someone with as much powerful as her. I haven't run into D'hoffren for years. You know where we could find him, Anya?"

She nodded. "I know a place we could contact him."

I swept the room at my arm, bending slightly at the waist in a grand beckoning gesture. "Lead the way."

It didn't take too long. We kept a steady pace and found ourselves in a graveyard. It had been silent until Xander had asked us how we knew D'hoffren. I didn't feel it was my place to explain, so I let Anya take the reins on that one.

"I'd been dumped, I was miserable, doing a few vengeance spells — boils on the penis, nothing fancy."

"Please skip ahead," Xander pleaded.

"D'hoffren got wind of me, he offered to elevate me."

"Meaning?" Buffy prodded.

"He made me a demon," Anya said quietly.

Buffy looked horrified. I was pleased that she hadn't said anything about her "wedding," for a whole ten minutes. Maybe the spell was wearing off?

"Oh no, Willow. But, you can summon this guy from this crypt, right? You can make him stop .. oh my gosh!" Buffy ran over to a rather moldy looking crypt, Spike in tow, "Wouldn't this be a perfect place for pictures?"

I rolled my eyes, exasperated. And there went her streak. Before I could even begin to express how sick I felt by the two love birds, a demon showed up out of nowhere. Buffy went toe to toe with it.

"Okay," she told it, "we're going to do this without destroying the foliage."

And with that, they went at it. I had to say, it was pretty cool seeing a Slayer in action again. It had been many years since I last saw one and Buffy's style was _way_ different. It was more freestyle than the last.

Though Buffy was giving it her all, the demon was still going strong. I could see that she knew she wasn't going to be able to keep going, so when_more_ demons showed up, she gave the command to fall back. We ran to a crypt and closed the doors behind us, barricading ourselves inside.

Xander, Buffy, Spike and I tried to hold the door while Anya ran off to summon D'hoffren. She was chanting something while the demons pounded on the door to get in. "Why are these things even here?" I asked.

Xander looked sheepish. "Willow said I was a demon magnet. So they're following me."

"Why would she say that?"

"I... may have had a crush on a praying mantis..."

"Huh?"

He was about to answer when a big ol' meaty demon arm came crashing through the window. It snaked it's way around Buffy's neck, crushing her airways.

"Buffy!" Spike called out. I wanted to elbow him in the ribs, but I was worried if I did that the door would give way.

"She's fine," I ground out, instead.

"Rhuen, Spike and are going to get something for the door. Can you hold it?"

I nodded and they bolted to get a stone statue. All the weight of the door and the demons banging against it crashed against me, but I refused to let them in. It wasn't long before the guys got back and the weight was taken off me.

Buffy managed to get free and came over to help up. "This isn't working," she said.

"They're strong," Spike said, looking into her eyes fearfully, "and I can't fight. If they get in, I don't know if I can protect you."

Hey! What am I? Chopped liver?

"You think you have to protect me?" She snapped. Now I felt silly. It's not like I _wanted_ protection, anyway...

"Oh, not with the whole girl-power bit!"

"What's wrong with girl power?" I said over Buffy's shoulder.

Just then, the door gave and the demons flooded in. Spike wasn't fighting and like Xander was getting his ass handed to him. Buffy and I girl-powered it up and took care of the onslaught. I ran at one of the beasts and jumped on him piggyback style. Then, I clutched at his head and yanked until his neck snapped.

Anya had the one going after Xander so I was about to go help Spike attempt to hold the door. I was almost over there when an extra strong demon knocked him on his back. Momma bear mode came on and I was almost to him when the Slayer flung herself on him. "Oh, Spike.. are you okay?" she cooed.

"Come on!" I snarled. My pent up annoyance came out and I swung around, knocking the demon behind me teeth out. I turned around again just in time to see Spike and Buffy have a make out session. "That's just... wrong..." I muttered.

Thank heaven Willow showed up out of nowhere. "Let the healing power begin. Let my will be safe again. As these words of peace are spoken, let this harmful spell be broken."

The demons fighting Anya and Xander disappeared, but Spike and Buffy were still going at it on the crypt floor. I cleared my throat loudly praying it would break them up.

Buffy was the first to come to her senses. Very slowly, like dealing with a wild animal, she pulled her lips from his. Her eyes were wide with horror. "Oh..."

Her reaction was expected. I saw it coming a mile away. _His_ was not. Spike just laid there, his eyes also wide, but not in horror as Buffy's were. He looked... afraid? He looked scared. He _felt_ scared.

What was going on in that vampire's thick head? Did he think the Slayer was going to be ticked off enough to try to stake him? Or was it something else? He didn't actually care what she thought of him, did he?

Apparently so, because as soon as he saw how disgusted she looked, he allowed the cursing to start. "Oh, bloody hell!" he snarled, getting up off the floor and adjusting his duster.

"Uh! Spike lips!" Buffy exclaimed in disgust, "Lips of Spike!"

Spike looked my way to see how I was reacting to what was going on, but by then I had hidden my expression of confusion. He felt relieved. He had no clue that I knew that on some very low level, he cared about what the Slayer thought of him.

Why did I care so much? It's wasn't any of my business. And still, I felt... bothered.

We got back to Giles' house, Buffy and Spike complaining the whole way. I didn't even feel sorry for him when Buffy tied him up again. I just went over and flopped on the couch, refusing to look at him. I was mad at him.

What was I mad at him for? Not for the I-love-Buffy thing caused by Willow. Nah, that wasn't his fault. What I _was _upset at him for was not trusting me. If he had trusted me in the first place to not let Giles do the spell, he would have never got cursed in the first place. My issue was his trust in me. Or, lack of.

Willow had gone into extreme baking mode and had made about a zillion cookies. I had indulged myself on about a hundred or so of them. Buffy was munching on one herself while Xander gave Giles and eyesight test, which he passed. Rah-frigging-rah. You can tell I was in a good mood.

So yeah, I was seething just a little on the couch after Buffy and her crowd had left to all go on with their lives. Buffy ran off to deal with some boy named Riley, Willow had class and Xander and Anya... I don't want to repeat what _they_ were off to do.

I had yet to speak to Spike who was on the other side of the room sitting in his chair and munching on a cookie. I could feel his eyes on me and I knew there was something he was dying to ask. I just kept on ignoring him and flipped the channels on the TV mindlessly to look like I doing something.

"Rhuen, what's wrong? You haven't said a bloody thing to me since Red broke that curse."

I knew if I looked in his eyes that he would be able to see he hurt there. The weakness in me. I looked anyway.

"Nothing's wrong. I just learned something. That's all."

His normally cocky grin was nowhere in sight. Now, he just looked curious and confused. "And what would that be?"

"That you don't trust me."

"What? That's bollocks! I-"

"Don't trust me," I interrupted him, not wanting to hear him lie to me. "Its okay, Spike. I get it. Just don't lie to me. Please don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying, Rhuen. I _do_ trust you."

"Bull!" I snapped. "If you trusted me, you wouldn't have run out of here earlier." I hate emotions, sometimes. Anger and sorrow were closing my throat. Betrayal flared in me, and all I wanted to do was hit something.

"Sure, Spike. It kinda sucks to know that you don't trust me, but do you know why it is? You have something very few people have."

He was very quiet, but his eyes bored into me. "And what would that be, pet?"

I stared back into those orbs of ice, letting them freeze over the fire in my heart. I wasn't mad anymore. I just felt sadness. If he hadn't been a vampire, he wouldn't have been able to hear my pained whisper. "You can hurt me."


	4. Hush

**I do apologies for not updating sooner. I've had a really busy time right now. I'd like to thank all my readers, fav-ers, and my favorites, the reviewers! This chapter gave me some writers block because I did have it done earlier, but it managed to delete itself. Let me know what you think.**

**Even if Saving You Sends Me to Heaven **

**By wolfgal97 **

**Hush **

"Rhuen, I simply don't see why you're allowing the whelp to tie me to a chair. There's no point!"

Spike was lying in Xander's horridly orange chair that I had decided to name The Great Pumpkin. Xander pulled the ropes restraining the vampire a bit tighter. At the moment, I didn't really disagree with Spike.

"I won't have an Evil Dead up and running around."

"Why?" I asked as I stood by Spike's side. "It's not like he could bite you or anything."

"Hey! I wouldn't eve bother to bite _him_," Spike objected. "I'd just kill him."

I smacked Spike's head for the millionth time today. He just could _not_ stop making death threats to Xander. I got a soft growl in response, earning him another smack. "Don't you dare growl at me, vampire."

"Sorry."

"Better," I said with a slight nod. I looked to Xander, who was crawling into bed. "You got a shower around here?"

His head lifted off his pillow long enough to give me a quizzical look. "Uh, yeah, down the right there's a door. There's a shower in there."

"Thanks," I said, heading for the door.

I about squealed in glee when I got to the shower. I used some angelic energy and did a small miracle. Miracles are also known as angelic forms of magic. Using this energy as a Guardian, I can do small stuff like heal wounds and change my clothes to whatever I want just by picturing it in my head. That's about it, though. Powerful Archangels like Michael and my friend Tora can even save people on the brink of death.

The only problem with angel magic is that because you can do almost anything with it if you have enough power, it takes a lot of strength to do even the simplest things. It whips you out and makes you tired. If you use too much than you can handle… you can die.

So I made my clothes disappear and I slumped into the shower feeling like I had just run a marathon. The hot water ran over my tight muscles making them loosen up. When I got my breath back, I cleaned myself up, got out, and dried off. I hung up the towel and imagined myself wearing some black boxer shorts and an electric blue tank top.

BAM! Insta-outfit. I looked myself over in the mirror and ruffled my still wet hair, watching the water droplets splatter against the mirror. I shrugged, not really worried about how bad I thought I looked. It wasn't like I was trying to impress anyone.

Fully clothed, I headed back to the bedroom area where Xander and Spike were. When I came in, Spike was mocking Xander about Anya. "We never talk," Spike crooned in a ridiculous falsetto.

"Shut up!" Xander spat. Apparently, this had been going on a while.

"Xaaaaander!" Spike sang.

"I will stake you."

"No you won't," I contradicted. The guys finally noticed me. For some odd reason I couldn't explain, they both just stopped and stared at me. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"No," they said simultaneously. Then they glared at each other at for thinking alike. I didn't bother checking my link with Spike. I usually kept it closed off unless I had to. I didn't like invading the privacy of his emotions.

I gave them both an odd look. "You guys are weird," I huffed as I plopped down on the love-seat. Xander watched me as I lay down.

"I thought you don't have to sleep," Xander commented.

"I don't have to, but ever since I got sent to earth, I got lazy. I like to nap. It's just… complicated for an angel to sleep. Sleep helps us heal when we're injured, but if we sleep too much or too hard, it can go into a trance."

"And why didn't I know about this?" the vampire asked.

"You never asked," I replied simply.

"What happens when you go into a trance?"

"We can see things, sometimes. Prophetic dreams… sometimes we can even mentally communicate with each other. By we, I mean other angels. I've only done it a few times."

"That's kinda cool… In an alien-type way," Xander said. His voice was getting lower and I could hear his breathing slowing up. He was close to sleep.

I smiled. "Goodnight, Xander."

"Night, Rhuen."

It was quiet for all of ten seconds when an indignant voice called out, "Well what about me?"

I rolled my eyes at his child-like behavior. "You don't even sleep at night, Spike. But, if it'll shut you up, 'cause heaven knows nothing can do _that_ for long, then good night."

* * *

I went into a room I didn't know that had a long table in it. My attention was focused solely on a small wooden box that rested in the middle of it. It lay among a collection of jars. As I got closer to the table, I saw that the jar contained human hearts. I'd seen some nasty stuff in my time, but that was for sure on my top ten list.

I ignored the hearts and looked at the box. For some reason, it seemed important. My fingers grazed over the lid. I was about to lift it to see what was inside when a scream of pain and fear made me spin around.

I felt something hit my chest and only then did I realize that I was the one screaming. I looked down to see what hit me and noticed that there was a gaping hole in my chest. I felt my body shut down any myself die as I fell to the ground. My eyes opened for the last time to see a blue demon grinning eerily at me, his long bony fingers gripping my own hearts it's beating got slower and slower and stopped…

* * *

I sat up on the love-seat breathing heavily. I gasped for air and I felt my lungs expand as oxygen filled them. Absently, my hand flew to my heart and searched for the hole I was sure was there. When all I felt was my own smooth skin, I had to look and see for myself. A voice brought me back to my senses.

"Rhuen? Are you alright?"

I nodded, still getting a hold of myself. "Yeah, it was just a dream. Just a dream."

"What did you dream about?"

"It was so real. I was in some room and there was a table that had jars of hearts and a box on it. I went to open the box because it seemed important when I was attacked. I was dying and the last thing I saw was this blue demon smiling at me as it held my still beating heart."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "Have you happened to have taken any drugs of late? Or are the seventies catching up to you?"

"How would you know?" I snapped. "It's not like you knew a thing about what was happening to me back then."

He looked almost ashamed. Almost. Spike just doesn't regret things, though.

"Look, I'm just a little worried right now. I've never had a dream about the future where I died. I think you'd be a little worried too, if you knew of your impending death."

His face hardened. "Don't you say that. You're not going to be dying anytime soon. Not on my watch."

I snorted while I moved over to his chair. I sat beside it just next to him on the floor. "It's not like it would matter if I did. You'd just get a new Guardian to take care of you and the Archangels would find a new pet project to entertain them."

His hand strained against the ropes to flick my arm. "It would _so_ matter. Not many people can handle me like you can. Plus, I'd be out my best friend. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Says the guy tied to a chair. Really though, what would you do about it? It's my job to keep _you_ safe, stupid."

"I'm just saying that I've got your back. That's all."

"We haven't had each other's back for a long time. For the past, oh, sixty years, I've had to watch both yours and my back while you watched over Drusilla's."

He frowned. "I loved her. Still do. Part of me always will."

"And loving her gave you the total right to screw me over? Everything I have, all my hopes, my very life depends on you staying alive." I took a deep breath to calm myself. I didn't want to get angrier and wake up Xander. "I'm gonna go get some air. Need anything?"

Spike tugged on the ropes holding him. "You could be a doll and untie me."

I smirked and left him there. I was out the door before he could complain any more. I extended my wings, ignoring the familiar pain as they came from under my skin. I took off and allowed the wind to carry me.

I took off and allowed the wind to carry me where it will. I rode it up into the clouds, not caring how far I was going. I was just enjoying being among the stars. When I got high enough for my taste, I folded my wings and dove to earth to fly closer to the ground.

When I got to the Welcome to Sunnydale sign, I circled back and headed in the direction of Xander's house. The sun was just starting to come up and people were going to start asking questions about the winged chick flying around.

I was back to the house just as the sun had risen. I popped my wings back under my shoulder blades so they were hidden and was about to reclaim my spot on the love-seat when Xander's alarm clock went off.

He rolled over with the pillow over his head like he was going to ignore it, so I got the fun job of waking up the boy. I went over and pulled the pillow away from him and put my lips by his ear. "Xaaaaaander! Wakey, wakey! Time to get up," I whispered. I heard Spike snickering from his chair, hearing everything.

Xander rubbed his eyes and sat up before silencing the alarm. He yawned and stretched before he tried to say something. I saw his lips move, but nothing came out. I figured his voice must be coated by the sleep or something. "Come again? I didn't catch that."

He repeated himself, but again, nothing came out. I only understood what he was saying by reading his lips. "I said thanks for waking me up." It was then he realized that he couldn't say anything and he started trying to say something. Anything. He even just tried screaming. He frantically grabbed at his throat and tried to force sound out, but it wasn't happening.

"Spike what's wrong with him?" I asked, but I noticed then that my vampire had the same problem. Though he was much calmer than Xander, he too was trying to speak and was unable to do so.

Xander glared at him and pointed his finger in Spike's direction. "You, you did this!" he mouthed.

Spike gave him a look that asked Xander if he really was that stupid. "How?" his lips said.

Xander realized how silly his accusation was and he ran to the phone. Spike and I both just watched him as he dialed someone and tried to talk when the line connected. Xander saw his mistake and hung up and looked to us. "What?" he mouthed.

Spike gave him the British bird. I giggled. "Wait, wait," I said. "No one can talk right now but me?" Spike and Xander both nodded and I started cracking up. "Spike can't talk! This is just _great_ I knew something had to be able to shut him up!" Spike glared, but I kept going. "Haha, that sucks for you, buddy. I mean, this has to be your own personal hell."

Xander was grinning, despite the fact he couldn't talk either. He was loving the payback Spike was getting. I decided he'd had enough teasing and went over and set him loose. I set Spike free of the ropes in under a minute. Xander wasn't the best at tying people up.

"Xander, why don't you meet up with the rest of the gang and see what's going on? The sun is out, so Spike can't leave. I'll stay here with him and you report back, kay?" Xander mouthed arguments, but I just smiled. "I'm sorry, any complaints? Voice them now, if so."

Again, he tried to argue, but when he figured out he wasn't getting anywhere with that, he just sighed and headed to the bathroom to get dressed. I looked around the room until I spied what I was looking for. Over on the desk in the corner was a spiral notebook and a pen. Like a good friend, I took it back to Spike who was now stretching out from being stuck to the chair.

I handed the things to Spike and he took them with a smile. He clicked the pen and wrote, "Thanks," in neat script. Another thing that most people would be surprised about Spike. One look at his bad boy image, and you would think he was just a dumb thug. In fact, he's very smart. He reads anything he can get his hands on, and though he stopped writing poetry as a career form a long time ago, I know he still does it sometimes. He wouldn't admit it, though. It would ruin his image.

I nodded. "No problem," is said, grabbing a book from the shelf and sitting down on the couch. Xander came out all dressed and ready to go as I got to page five. "See yah later," I said, not looking up from my book. I knew he was gone when the door closed.

The next few hours were spent with me reading and Spike flipping through the TV stations. I only put the cheesy romance novel down long enough to glance at the screen when a news broadcast came on about the odd loss of voice.

Apparently, Xander and Spike weren't the only ones effected. The whole town of Sunnydale was speechless. The people on TV were saying that it was a bad case of laryngitis. Us supernatural creatures knew better.

Spike pulled out his pen and paper and wrote something down. When he was done, he turned it around so I could read it. It said, "I wonder why you still can talk."

I shrugged. "It seemed to have happened over night. I went for a flight and I was out of town. I think that's why it didn't affect me."

Spike wrote something else down. "Do you think it has anything to do with your dream last night?"

"I don't know. You think the demon I saw has something to do with this?"

Spike shrugged and went back to flipping the stations again. I went back to my book and that's how the next hours were spent. Until the silence was interrupted by the growling of his stomach. I peeked over the top of my book. "Want me to go get you some blood?"

He shook his head. I rolled my eyes and dogeared the page. "I'm going to go out and get you some blood. Be back in a few," I said. Before I left, I imagined myself wearing dark jeans, black and red tank tops and a black leather jacket. I gave Spike a salute before heading out. He waved back over his shoulder, eyes never leaving the TV.

I headed on out and went looking for the local butcher's shop. The sun was just starting to set and the whole town was silent. It was more than a little creepy, but I forged on. I went down the street seeing all the chaos going on. People were running down the streets crying, some were knelt in prayer, others were trying to make profit of the situation by selling dry erase boards.

I ignored all of them, slightly feeling guilty for still being able to speak. Then I remembered giving Spike a hard time and felt a little better. His ego is so huge, he needed it deflated a little. I just smiled and kept on walking until I came across the right place.

I went inside the butcher shop to find it empty. I figured the people supposed to be working there had taken the day off, so I just went in, took what I needed and left a twenty on the counter. I found a few bags and packed the red filled containers up. I then headed on back to Xander's.

It was dark now, and the silence was even creepier. I walked at a steady pace, trying to not stop. Sure, I may be a badass fighter, but I still get creeped out. It's not my fault. If I had been a normal human living a normal life, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Me? I've seen the stuff that goes bump in the night.

Just as I got to Xander's house, I saw something moving around in the dark. I couldn't see clearly what it was, even with my advanced vision, but something in my gut said it was bad news. The thing moved with jerky motions, like it was stuck and trying to get free of something.

Slowly so the thing didn't see me, I moved a little closer to it. When I got a little closer, I saw that it was this weird guy in a strait jacket shuffling through the yard. I was about to go out and see what it was doing when I saw what was following behind it.

It was like my nightmare was coming alive. The blue demon that was constantly grinning was floating silently behind its flailing minion. I barely stopped the scream that wanted to escape me. I turned and ran to the door to get into Xander's basement. I locked the door behind me as fast as I could and sank against the door, hand over my mouth to contain the pathetic sounds of fear leaking out of me.

Xander and Spike had been fighting each other about something, both of them holding up paper that had rude things aimed at each other in each other's face. When I came in so freaked out, they both turned their attention my way.

Xander wrote "What's wrong," on his paper while Spike came over to me and gave me a surprising hug. Paper forgotten, his lips moved and ask, "Are you alright?"

I shook my head, leaning into his embrace. "The thing I was telling you about in my dream. It's outside and running around! It was acting like-" I was cut off by my own yelp of fear as someone knocked on the door I was leaning against.

I tried to hold it closed, but whatever was on the other side was strong. Spike and I both got knocked over by the force of it being flung open. As soon as I saw it was the jerky little minion, I got up and in a fighting stance. Spike vamped out and got in front of me. I wasn't scared to face much, but the blue men that floated in scared the hell out of me.

Still, if those things were going to be able to take me out, I was going to go down doing my job. I got side by side with Spike who bared his fangs at the monsters. Xander had grabbed a baseball bat and was staying in the corner, protecting his back. I glared at the blue men.

"Okay, smurf wannabe. Who the hell are you and what do you want?"

The blue man flinched like I'd hit it or something. It's hands flew to cover it's ears and his smile turned into an expression of horror. I understood that my voice had somehow hurt it, so I opened my mouth to scream when I got jumped by one of the minion who covered my mouth.

I spewed muffled protests against its hand and tried to fight him off, but another minion forced my hands down. I was thinking I was out of luck when something full body tackled the thing on me.

Spike was beating the crap out of the minion that had been holding my hands, but the one covering my mouth was still on me. It sat on me and pulled a blade out from nowhere. My eyes got huge when I saw the metal gleaming as he slid it into my shoulder. I yelled out against his hand, but he pulled it away long enough to stuff some cloth in my mouth. I tried to call for Spike, but the minion was too fast.

The thing picked me up off the floor and pulled my arms behind me in one smooth motion. I growled at it through the gag, wanting only to take a snap at the demon's fingers. He used something to bind my wrist together before kicking me away like trash on the street. I ignored the rib shot and tried to see how Spike was doing.

The vampire was holding his own against one of the minions, avoiding his attacks, but the one I had fought with was sneaking up behind him. I called out as loud as I could and won his attention. His eyes found mine and silently asked if I was okay.

"Xnnnneeeer," I strained out, trying to get his attention on the human. Xander was wildly swinging his baseball bat at the two grinning blue demons, but they were advancing. I knew he was going to need help and I couldn't give it, being a little… tied up. Oh, how I hate irony.

Spike jumped out from between the two minions at just the right time so that they crashed into each other in a mass of flailing limbs. He rushed over to Xander's side and bared his teeth at the blue demons. Their grins fell at his challenge, and they turned around, their feet never touching the ground. Silently, they floated out the door, one snapping their fingers to get their minions to follow them.

As soon as they were out the door, both guys were by my side. Xander began working on my bonds while Spike removed the gag from my mouth. His lips moved, asking, "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright!" I huffed, "I'm pissed off. The little douche stabbed me! Be a good little Big Bad and get that for me, will you?" I asked, nodding to my shoulder with the blade in it.

His hand shot out and pulled it from me in one quick motion. I winced as the steel sliced through the skin, but it wasn't as bad pulling it out than getting stabbed with it in the first place. "Thank you," I said as Xander got my hands free.

The human went over to his notepad and scribbled a note on a page before he flipped it to show me. "I wondered what they wanted."

I knew. My mind flew back to the images of my dreams with all the jars surrounding the box on the table. "Hearts. They're after hearts."

He wrote again. "And you know this, how?"

"From my dream last night. I had a dream about the future. The blue demons were collecting hearts and they took mine in it."

His eyes got huge. "Why didn't you say anything?" I read through messy, frantic scribbling.

"Spike knew. I woke up and told him about it before heading out to clear my head. When I got back, no one could talk, and I guess I forgot about it."

Xander slapped his face in an exasperated motion. I rolled my eyes. Just a few decades ago, men his age and younger were more mature than he. I didn't say this, though. Xander may act a little silly, but it was endearing in a way.

Spike was looking over the blade that I been stabbed with. He held it out to me, pointing to something engraved into the hilt. A large letter G was there, gleaming in the artificial light. I ran my fingers over it, trying to think of what it meant when I felt cool fingers probing at my shoulder.

I let Spike slide my jacket off me so he could get a better look at the hole in my shoulder. He was trying to be sweet, making sure I was okay, but the skin was already healing up before he could do anything about it.

If I hadn't been an angel, I would've let him clean the blood off the old fashioned vampire way. I trusted him with my life and I know he wouldn't hurt me or anything, but unlike Slayer blood that acts like an aphrodisiac to vampires, Angel blood gives them powers, but at a cost.

If a vampire consumes my blood, they would be stronger and faster permanently, they would also be able to walk in the sunlight for twenty-four hours. The cost was that it was like a drug. It becomes addictive until they go mad if they don't get any more. But, they also begin to lose their minds if they drink too much. It was all such a delicate situation that I didn't want to put him in it.

Instead of him ingesting the blood, because he knew what it could do, he went and wetted a tissue and cleaned away the red stains. I smiled thanks at him, because Spike and I just didn't need to use words with each other.

When my skin was back to its normal tan color, I rolled my shoulder a bit to make sure it all healed right. When I was sure that everything was back to normal, I deicide to jump on the situation. "Okay, well, we need to find out who the smurf-wannabe's are. Once we do that we can find a way to beat them."

"We?" both guys wrote at the same time.

I gave them both a look. "Yes, we. Xander, who's the only human in the room? Ergo, whose heart did they come for?" Xander's eyes got huge as he realized the truth for the first time. To me, it had been obvious the whole time. Though it had been me that had the dream about these monsters, Xander was the only one of us that had a normal working heart. Spikes had stopped over a century ago and mine beats faster than that of a human.

Spike was still giving me a look so I raised an eyebrow at him before using some angelic magic and changing my voice to sound exactly like Spike so I sounded like him, accent and all when I mocked him. "Oh, Rhuen, I care so much about you! Don't worry, I won't let the wankers tear out your still beating heart!"

Xander's mouth hung open loosely after my little impression. He had taken everything about me so well that I forgot that there was stuff about me that would surprise him.

Spike, on the other hand, didn't look shocked at all. But he nodded, letting me know that I wasn't wrong.

"I don't know about you guys, but I can't sleep now. It's only a few hours until morning when we can get together with the rest of the group and see if Giles found anything. Till then, I'm reading," I declared, pulling my knees to my chest as I found my page I had left before going to get Spike his blood.

Xander crawled into bed while Spike riffled through the bag that contained his blood. He found a container and pulled the lid off it. He stuck his nose close to the red substance before taking a whiff. He then looked up to me, an indignant look on his face as he mouthed, "Pigs blood?"

I shrugged, ignoring him. I was totally enveloped in the plot of the book I was reading. The actions of the female in the story confused me. Why would anyone ever stay with a man who cheats on her for her sister? Humans and their uncontrolled emotions just amaze me. Sure, I could see how emotions could be a weakness, but I also wanted to feel something so powerful that it drives me the way humans let their emotions.

I watched the story develop as the girl finally stood up for herself and ended up with the right man for her in the end, separating herself from her sibling and ex forever. I felt unsatisfied in the end. I'm one of those people who likes stories to have happy endings, but this was one of those stories that had ended with unresolved feelings about things. It annoyed me. I know happy endings like what I have in mind are rare in real life, but I still couldn't help but feel disappointed.

* * *

Xander and I packed up and went to meet with the gang at the lecture hall the next day. Spike had to stay in Xander's basement because of his little allergy to the sun. I had to admit, I was growing attached to the human. He managed to make me laugh, even when he didn't say anything.

We let ourselves into the hall and found our way into the central room where a projector sat, Giles toying with the gears to it. Buffy and Willow both were writing notes back and forth to each other. I went and sat a seat away from them while Xander closed the blinds.

Giles slid a transparency on the projector he was using so that we could all see the information on the screen. "WHO ARE THE GENTLEMEN?" it said in black letters.

Giles put the next slide on that had a picture he'd drawn of a Gentleman. It was crude, but we got the idea that it was a creepy blue demon. The heading over the picture said, "THEY ARE FAIRY TALE MONSTERS."

He flipped to the next slide. "WHAT DO THEY WANT?"

Willow's hand shot up in the air, ready to supply us all with the answer, though I already had a pretty good idea. She pointed quickly at her chest, looking proud.

Xander's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He mouthed the word, "Boobies?" I rolled my eyes at the male mind.

Giles gave him a scornful look and put down the next slide, that had juvenile drawings of valentines day hearts and the written word on there. Then, he placed more slides down, telling us the story we all needed to know.

"THEY COME TO A TOWN..." as slide said with the drawing of two Gentlemen on a hill overlooking a small town. Wicked smiles twisted their faces.

"THEY STEAL ALL THE VOICES, SO NO ONE CAN SCREAM." A gentleman held his blue hand out, long blue fingers pulling smoke from people's mouths in the town.

"THEN:"

A Gentleman enters a bedroom.

The monster cut into a sleeping man's chest. Blood flowed from the would in red lines.

The Gentleman held the now dead man's heart up. There is blood everywhere, and the blue man just grins.

We all just kinda look at each other for a second. Who knew Giles was gonna go at it so much with all that blood. Sure, I'd only knew him for a few days, but I just didn't see that coming out of him. Yes, I could feel a darkness in the man, but nothing too gory. Still, Anya and I get over it first. She continued to munch happily on a bag of popcorn she had brought. I leaned over and stole a piece.

"THEY NEED SEVEN." Another slide told us. Seven hearts were represented. "THEY HAVE AT LEAST TWO."

Xander scribbled on a pad he brought before holding it up. "How do you kill them?"

Buffy snorted and started moving a fist up and down repeatedly in a staking or stabbing motion. For some reason, everyone else looked at her like she was crazy. I guess they were all thinking of something else or something. Buffy hurriedly yanked a stake out of her purse, a deep blush forming on her cheeks. I still didn't get what there was to blush about. I decided to ask Anya about it later.

Everyone nodded, understanding finally, but Giles shook his head as he put up another slide.

"IN THE TALES, NO SWORD CAN KILL THEM." A Gentleman in a picture with several swords in him was still grinning.

"BUT THE PRINCESS SCREAMED ONCE AND THEY ALL DIED." A princess yelling her head off, Gentlemen falling over dead. "THEY CANNOT STAND THE HUMAN VOICE."

Taking a deep breath, Buffy opened her mouth in what would have been a bloodcurdling scream. Not a sound escaped her, though. She frowned, upset at the situation.

Willow held up a finger and pulled a CD out of her bag. Giles had seen that one coming and put up another slide that told us only a real human voice could do the job.

That's when everyone looked at me. "What?" I asked, my actual voice coming out loud in the silence.

"You're the only one who can talk," Xander wrote down.

I nodded. "Uh-huh, but newsflash, I'm not really human. I just look human-ish. I don't know if that will do the job."

Buffy holds up, "It's the best we have, right now. Besides, how do I get my voice back?"

Giles shrugs, points to books. Apparently, he was still looking.

He places another sheet on. "BUFFY AND RHUEN WILL PATROL TONIGHT."

Buffy nods and I grinned. "Okay, I'll be your princess."

* * *

Spike had managed to throw a fit about me patrolling with the Slayer. He wrote furiously on a note pad about how it wasn't safe and he even reminded me several times about my dream. Then, he'd shove the notes in my face as I tried to get around him to get out the door.

Xander hadn't been any bit of help. He'd just sat back silently laughing and frankly, looking like a sea lion on crack. I had shot him a nasty look as I managed to slip out his basement door.

So Buffy and I had met up in the campus grounds and we began our patrol. This was my first time tag teaming with her, and I had a feeling it wasn't even close to being the last. It was a pretty comfortable thing, though.

The streets were deserted. It was as if the town was totally empty, though no one had left, due to the quarantine on the town. Still, it was beyond creepy. I kept humming odd tunes, trying to keep the silence at bay.

Suddenly, about twenty minutes in the patrol, Buffy stopped in her tracks. She saw something moving. About teen feet away was a Gentleman, floating a few feet in the air. He grinned evilly at us. I was about to let a scream lose to see if that would off it when something tackled me to the ground.

I wrestled with the henchmen on me for a moment before I was able to snap it's neck. Buffy offered me a hand to help me up and I took it, allowing her to give me a boost. As soon as I was on my feet, we took off after the other footman who was bolting off towards a clock tower.

The Footman we chased crashed through a side door into the clock tower, seeking a place to hide from us. I followed him while Buffy took off towards a boarded up window to cut him off. I was on his tail and Buffy crashed through the window, blocking him in.

I tackled the monster and got him in a hold went for its neck. I was busy with the little bugger, but not too busy that I didn't notice the fact that a tall, dark, handsome boy with a gun pointed at Buffy. Her crossbow was aimed at him, but I could see in her eyes that she recognized him and he also recognized her.

The footmen attacked and we all snaped into one awesome team of kick-buttness. The boy was a strong fighter. He tossed henchmen aside almost as well as Buffy and I did. He even managed to shoot one with some kind of taser gun. The monster spazzed and then passed out.

Buffy couldn't get any good shots with the crossbow. It gets knocked away in the struggle. She went hand to hand with the footmen. She sent one flying back into a beam.

Buffy and I saw a footmen rush up a set of stairs. We nodded at each other before taking off after him. I saw Buffy cast the boy a glance, but he was in control of his fight. We ran on.

Buffy headed to a table where jar's of hearts set. Four footmen jumped her from nowhere. I was about to hop into the scuffle with her when I spot a gentlemen coming towards her, scalpel in hand. I open my mouth and let out a scream, praying that my voice is human enough to do the job.

For a moment, my heart sank. The blue men just kept smiling. That is, until they realized what was happening. Their eyes became huge and their hands flew to their ears, trying to cut the sound out, but it did no good.

Their heads, and no, I'm not making this up, their heads popped off and green blood exploded from where they used to be.

The footmen died as well. Buffy, now free, tried to talk, but her voice was still gone. I held up a finger telling her to wait before I went over to the jars of hearts. Just as there had been in my dream, a wooden box was amongst them. I opened the box and a hiss of air escaped.

Buffy grinned. "Thank you," she said, her voice finally back.

Buffy's smiled faded though as the boy came up the stairs. "Would someone like to tell me what's going on?" he asked. I didn't know what it was about him, but I could already tell that he wasn't going to be my favorite person.

* * *

"You could've died!" Spike growled at me, already tied back down to his chair as I came back in from the long night.

"Well who peed in your pancakes?" I asked him.

"When you have a premonition like that, you don't tempt fate," Spike scolded me.

"Spike, I'm fine. If I hadn't gone, they would've been in trouble."

"I don't give a sod about the slayer. And they? Who else went with you?"

I shrugged. "This military guy Buffy knew was out there. I left before I found out anything, but I have a feeling that it won't be the last time I see him."

"Well, I don't like it," he said stubbornly.

"And I don't care," I snapped back. "I was alive before you were, Spike and I did just fine on my own. You forget, I'm a demon killer. Have you seen hell? I have."

"I will one day," Spike said quietly. Aaaaaand, there goes my ability to be mad at him.

"I don't know who goes where, Spike. All I know it that you've got a while until you have to worry about that. Until then, can we not fight? I'm tired."

He frowned. "Come 'ere," he said scooting over best he could in the chair. I curled into his side. And you know what? I didn't have a single bad dream that night. Not one.

I didn't know that the real nightmares had yet to begin.


	5. Doomed

**Even if Saving You Sends Me to Heaven**

**By wolfgal97**

**Doomed**

"I swear, I'm going to kill you both!" I screeched at the human and the vampire. Xander and Spike had been arguing with each other all morning and it had given me a headache. Okay, I understood that they didn't like each other, but did they really have to argue over every little thing?

Both of them looked to me with surprise like they'd just remembered that I existed. I shot a glare at both of them.

Spike just rolled his eyes and continued to rant. "And what do you do for the group, Harris? The Watcher and Red I get, but you? What are you to the rest of them? Comic relief?"

"Spike, that is enough! Shut the hell up, or I'm going to beat your little vampire head in!"

Xander once again looked at me with surprise. "Can you do that?" he asked.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time if I did," I informed him.

"That time in France doesn't count," Spike argued, obviously embarrassed. "We were only sparring."

"And you lost," I spat.

"Fine! I lost! And you've made you're point. Are you quite finished?"

"Are you?" I asked him, hands on my hips.

Before he could make a nasty comeback, the earth moved under us. The whole basement began to shake. Things fell from their places on shelves. A drink on the table fell to the ground, shattering the glass. A pipe broke, spraying water. I almost lost my balance and fell over as Xander did, but I manage to stay on my feet. I instinctually turned to place myself in front of Spike.

The action wasn't needed. I knew that I was being overprotective and that it had only been a minor earthquake, but still, you never know what can happen on the Hellmouth. This whole city gave me a feeling of unease, so I was constantly alert for trouble.

When the ground stopped shaking and all the vibrating things in the room had settled, I asked, "Is everybody okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Xander said. "Wow, it's been a few years since we've had an earthquake."

"Sodding Hellmouth," Spike complained. "Nothing goes right in this place. You've got to love it."

"Mhmm," I said skeptically. "So I guess you love the fact that the chair you sleep in every day is totally soaked with heaven knows what?"

Spike's eyes got huge. Very slowly, as if trying to not startle a shy animal, he turned around to peer at his chair. A cross between a sad and an annoyed expression took over his face as he studied the steady drip came down from one of the loosened pipes. An upset growl filled the room.

"My sodden sleeping chair's bloody... sodden," he finished lamely.

Xander, ever the handy man, brought over a bucket and set it under the flow of water. "The quake just knocked a couple of pipes loose," he explained. "There's a wrench hanging up over there by the work bench. Try tightening the valve nut."

Spike glared at the young man. "Do I look like a plumber to you?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

Xander rolled his eyes. "No, you look like a big mooch who doesn't lift a finger around here. In fact, Rhuen does more than you."

"How so?" Spike asking indignantly.

"I take trash out," I shrugged.

"And she'll run the laundry now and then," Xander added. "Either way, I have work." He picked a shirt off the top of a pile of clothes. He gave a sniff and shrugged before pulling it on. A pizza emblem was sewn into it.

Spike giggled. "Yeah. Delivering melted cheese on bread. Doing your part to keep America constipated."

I elbowed him for being rude. He ignored it, but rubbed the spot I'd hit.

"Mock not. Remember who pays for the plasma around here, pal," Xander said while picking the wrench up from the work bench. "You earn your keep or you don't get kept," he said, offering Spike the tool. The blond pursed his lips, obviously not liking the situation. He knew he would have to do what Xander asked, though, or he'd get an earful from me. Grudgingly, he snatched the wrench from Xander's hand.

Xander smiled. "When you're done fixing the leak, try cleaning up this mess."

Xander turned to leave, and Spike snapped. He raised the wrench, wanting to strike the boy over the head. I was about to move to stop him when his chip went off. Spike's arm dropped as his free hand flew to his temple, trying to rub the twing of pain out.

Xander paused on the stairs, still oblivious to what had almost happened to him. "And doing a little laundry for once wouldn't kill you. Unfortunately."

I glared at him. "Was that necessary?"

Xander shrugged and smiled a little. "It made me feel better."

"I'm already dead, whelp," Spike yelled back as the door closed behind the kid.

As soon as Xander was gone, I took the wrench from Spike's hand. I knew he wasn't going to do any work and I really didn't want to hear Xander whine when he got back. I used the tool to quickly tighten the pipe so the leak would stop.

"I could've done that," Spike grumbled.

"Oh, I know. But were you going to?" I asked.

"No."

"Exactly. You were just going to get yourself kicked out of the only safe place for you right now and cause me more problems than I already have. I have to do everything, Spike, I get to do everything without any help from you. Honestly, its sad."

Spike shrugged self consciously, "I didn't think of it like that..."

"You never think about how things are going to end up for me, Spike. Its all about you. You can't ever do anything for anyone else," I explained.

Spike looked like I'd just smacked him. I think he knew I was truly upset by this because not once during this conversation had I yelled. My tone had stayed even and firm the whole time.

"I'm just... concerned about the quake, is all."

"Spike, you've done this long before the quake happened. But, I'll humor you. Why are you so freaked out about the earthquake?"

"Well, last time we had a quake on the Hellmouth, word is that great great grand-pap off'ed the Slayer."

I raised an eyebrow. "The Slayer before Buffy?"

"No, the she-devil herself. She somehow came back. That's why there's two Slayers runnin' around anymore. Some dark Slayer named Hope or Prayer or somethin' like that is off in a hospital."

"Are you saying that the earthquake was because the Master is back?"

"I don't know. He's got enough followers to our bloodline that some fleges may be trying to bring him back. Why?"

"Because he's a demon that I never ended that I would have loved to. I'm going to go see if there's any news with the scoobies and if he's back, I'm going to kill him."

I turned to leave, but cold fingers wrapped tight around my wrist. "Rhuen, the Master, though a ceremonial poncy git, isn't a normal vampire. He's very old an' very powerful. If he is back, I want you to be careful, yeah?"

My tight expression eased a bit at his concern. It was times like this I knew that our friendship wasn't one-sided. I nodded, my high ponytail bouncing. "I will. I'll be back in a bit. Until then, could you please try and do something around here? For me?"

I turned away from those icy cold eyes and I went out the basement door. I headed to Giles' house, first. That man seemed to always know what was going on, so I thought it was a good idea to check in with him.

I had to walk to the flat because it was day out and I didn't feel like drawing attention by flying. It took a bit longer, but it was necessary. I was about to knock on the door when I heard the owner of the home speaking to someone inside.

"But until evidence suggests otherwise, I think we should assume this was the result of shifting land masses and not a portent of imminent doom."

I knocked. "Come in!" Giles called from inside.

"You're lucky I'm not a vampire," I warned him as I closed the door behind me.

"It seems all the vampires in Sunnydale have been in here anyways, so it's not like it matters," Giles reasoned.

"No, Rhuen's right," Buffy said from the couch. "You should be more careful."

Giles sighed. "Would you two stop worrying about me? Besides, I think I have some news." He pulled out a map of the town that had push pins sticking out of it in random areas. "I've come up with a few theories regarding our mysterious commando friends," Giles commented proudly.

I could tell that this bothered Buffy for some reason. She looked almost worried about this. I wanted to ask her what was going on when I remembered that boy from the other night that she seemed to recognized. I decided to ask her about it later.

"Oh. Really?" she asked the appropriate question.

"Yes. Now, based on the location of our various sightings, and Spike's descriptions of their underground installation-"

Buffy interrupted him, seeming overly concerned about the very thing I'd come here about. "Okay, say this quake was a sign... a bad omen. And we just ignore it. There's gonna be some pretty red faces around here if the world comes to an end."

"Woah,"I said, "who said anything about the world ending?"

Giles rolled his eyes. "If the quake is heralding a catastrophe such as that, I'm sure they'll be other signs to follow, affording us enough time to avert it." He changed topics back the the map in his hands. "Now, I believe the commandos' installation is somewhere very close to, if not directly under, your school. And as such, I'm convinced one or more of them may be in your very midst-"

"Plague!" Buffy half-screamed. Now, I could see what she was doing. It wasn't rocket science. She had emotional feelings for that boy from the other night, but he was one of the Initiative. I cast her a dark look, all the pieces falling together. I knew she saw me, though she tried to ignore it.

Giles had no idea what she was going on about, though I did. "What?"

"If the end is coming in the form of a plague, too many people may become infected before we-"

"Buffy, will you please stop worrying about what may be and concentrate on what is," Giles interrupted. Buffy tried to argue, but her Watcher silenced her. "Vigilance is all well and good, but as I feel we're getting close, there's a much more pressing question..."

"Is the Master coming back?" I asked.

Both of them looked at me like I was nuts. "Uh, not to my knowledge. What brought that up?" Giles asked.

"Yeah," Buffy agreed, "Cause if he is, I wanna know."

"Well, Spike told me that the last time there was an earthquake in Sunnydale that the Master killed you or something."

"And how would Spike know about that?" Buffy asked.

Giles beat me to the answer. "The Master is part of Spike's vampire bloodline. A royal vampire line. He would know if he'd killed a Slayer. But, no, I doubt the Master is ever coming back. Why? Did Spike say he felt the other's presence?"

"No, he just acted a little funky, like something was coming."

"Woah, woah, woah," Buffy said. "Let's back things up a little. Are you telling me that Spike is like, vampire royalty?"

"Yup," I told her. "He comes from the Line of Aurelius. The Master was sired by some vampire profit. The master sired Darla, Darla did Angelus, Angelus to Drusilla and then you have Spike. And somehow, Harmony got in the picture."

Giles cleaned his glasses. "That was a sad day for vampire everywhere."

"Okay, Harmony being vamp royalty is more believable than Spike. I mean, he's so... egh!"

"Spike does have many good qualities, too, Buffy. He's had my back before when no one else did," I told her, memories of over fifty years ago when the Whirlwind still ran together swimming through my head.

"Like what?" she challenged.

"Loyalty. He will not betray those he cares about. And even you have to admit how dedicated he was to Dru."

Neither human argued with me. They knew I was right. "Speaking of the bleached one, I'm going to head on back and tell him it was a false alarm."

"Yeah, I need to get going, too, Giles. I'll see you later," Buffy said as she joined me out the door.

We walked together for a block before I asked her about my assumptions. "So, that guy what was fighting the Gentlemen the other night, you know him, don't you?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I do. His name is Riley. He is a teacher's assistant for one of my classes."

"And you have a... I believe humans call it a crush?"

A deep blush spread on her face. "Yeah, it's a crush."

"And he's part of the Initiative."

She stopped in her tracks. "How did you-"

"It wasn't exactly rocket science," I laughed. "I mean, how many people run around fighting demons? Other than us, of course."

Buffy nodded, her blond bangs bouncing. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, I'm trying to figure everything out. Promise you won't tell anyone! Especially not Giles," she begged.

"Okay, I promise. It really is between the two of you. Until then, I'm going to head back to Xander's to see what's going on. If anything of the end of the world nature happens, let me know, okay?"

She smiled. "I will. Thank you, Rhuen. I'm pretty glad I met you, even if it was through Spike."

We went our separate ways and I continued the long walk home. All the while, I thought over the day's events. I frowned when I thought about my conversation with Spike and Xander this morning when Spike an I had gotten into it about who'd win in a fight.

It brought back memories of the night years ago that all the other members of Whirlwind went out for the night and Spike and I had stayed in...

* * *

1897- Russia

"I can't believe she went with him to the bloody ballet!" Spike hissed, taking another swig from his bottle of bourbon.

"Spike, you know he does this when Darla has to attend business with the Order. He gets bored and she gets interested."

"I know, Rhuen! But our love is supposed to be eternal, and she's running around with that... that... argh!" Spike tossed the bottle, shattering it somewhere on the wall behind me.

I sighed and smoothed the top of my dress. "Well, maybe one day you'll understand that she's not always there for you. Maybe you can love someone who will always love you back," I tried to reason with the drunk vampire.

"No! Dru loves me! I know she does! It's him, Rhuen! Angelus has her in his claws! It's all his fault!" he argued, hands flailing as he talked.

"I'm sure Drusilla does care about you, Spike, but she doesn't love you as much as you love her."

He lept up and began pacing. "She... she thinks I'm special. She made me what I am! She chose me. I was chosen, Rhuen! I-I-I'm her dark prince..."

I went over to his side and took his hand. I gently squeezed it, trying to give him some comfort that he would never get from anyone else. "You are special and she and I both know it. This honestly isn't anything about you. It's about Dru and Angelus."

Spike snarled and snatched his hand away so he could continue walking around the room. "What does she see in that ponce? He horrible to all of us. Even Darla! And then there are nights like this where I'm by myself. I'm immortal and alone."

Stung by his words, I fought the painful emotions away. "I'm always here for you, Spike. Does that not matter? Do... I not matter?"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to me, a sad look in his eyes. "No, you matter. Rhuen, you are my best friend and I don't even deserve that." He came towards me and cupped the side of my face, making me look up at him. "I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. I used to be a gentlemen. Now look at me."

I did. I did look at him long and hard. If you did, if you knew him like I did, you could see that the kind man Spike was as a human was still there. He was deep down and hidden away under pain and blood and death, but he was still the passionate poet who fell in love with an ungrateful woman. And then he fell for another. It was as if the man was just unlucky in love.

"You're not trying to be. You're just hurt. You can be hurt, you know, Spike."

He frowned. "But I shouldn't be. I'm powerful, now. I'm strong, fast, and one day, I'll kill a Slayer. I'll prove myself to them all. I'll win Dru for myself and I'll take on Angelus if I have to," he vowed.

Another flash of anger had taken over. He hated Angelus, as did I. He was a true monster with no good feeling or excuses. As a human, Darla had lived a terrible life. It was mo surprise she ended up cold. And Dru was almost an innocent creature, being completely insane. And Spike... Spike had me. He still had something remarkably good in him that wasn't in any other vampires. And he had destiny.

He grabbed his coat and went for the door until my question stopped him.

"Where are you going, William?"

"Out. I need to find someone to eat. Maybe get something else to drink."

A vision flashed before my eyes. If he went out that night, he would've gone on a bloody rampage. He would've killed at least a hundred people. He and the rest of his vampire family would be tossed out of town and in anger, Angelus would kill him.

"Please, stay. Stay with me tonight. I don't want to be alone," I admitted.

His shoulders sagged and his stern expression softened just a little. "Rhuen, you don't want to be around me tonight, pet. I need to go out and fight someone. I don't... I don't want something that I'll regret happen to you."

I laughed, "Spike, I can take care of myself. You're strong, but I'm stronger. Trust me. I'll be fine. In fact, why don't we go a round? I could use the exercise."

Spike snorted. "You're kidding, right? Rhuen, I'm not going to try to hit you."

He didn't have time to say anything else because my fist was flying at his face. He spun around me, trying to get away from my attack. I spun as well and attacked again. My fist flew, but for every blow I tossed, he had a counter attack.

He was fast, but I was faster. Eventually. one of my hits got it, striking his cheekbone. I grinned and backed off a few seconds so he could touch his face gingerly. Then, he grinned and vamped out. "Okay, this is going to be fun."

The battle was a blur of limbs striking out to hit, but not to hurt. We were so fast, but I had more experience when it came to fighting. Still, Spike was a faster learner and picked up my moves and style quickly, mimicking the way my hands and legs moved.

Eventually, Spike wasn't fast enough to counter when I snaked around his front and I wrapped an arm around his pale neck. I pulled him to the floor, penning myself under him and keeping my face from his head so that he couldn't rear back and hurt me.

Tired and hot, we both agreed I was the winner. I let him up and he offered me a hand that I gladly took. Surprising me, he pulled me into a hug. He whispered in my ear, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

"Good," he smiled, "I can't bear the thought of losing you."

* * *

Sunnydale, California- 1999

I didn't notice anything abnormal when I walked into the basement. I was still lost in my memories as I came inside from the sunny afternoon. It was the low call of my name that got my attention.

"Rhuen," Spike called from the shadows.

"Spike?" I called back. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" I was getting worried about him.

Before I could get an answer, Xander entered the room from the stairs. He brought with him a pizza. It was fresh and it smelled really good.

Xander looked around and wasn't happy. "Oh, no! Spike, the place is worse then when I left!"

"Don't turn around," Spike said from the corner. He was really starting to scare me. "Spike, what it is? What happened?" the teen asked.

"Don't look at me," Spike warned. Well, now I couldn't help it. After all, it's my job to look. I went over to the dark and yanked him out. For half a second, I thought I had the wrong guy and I wanted to put him back.

Xander and I stood slack-jawed, looking at the bleached, master vampire. A master vampire who happened to be wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, completing the look with his black combat boot.

Xander starting cracking up while I just look on with compassion. If I hadn't just been thinking of times when we'd needed each other before, I probably would have laughed, too. He looked beyond funny.

Spike sighed and held up some black cloth in front of him. "I shrunk them. Bleeding shirt, trousers. I hate this place."

"Okay," I said gently, "we all just know now why you don't do laundry. It's okay, Spike. Crap happens."

Xander, on the other hand, wasn't so nice. "You know, I'm not any happier about you wearing my stuff than you are," he said.

"Then go out and get me some decent stuff. And I want more blood," Spike said rudely, obviously getting on the defense.

"No!" Xander snapped. " You're not a guest."

"You know what?" I said, trying to calm everyone down, "I'm going to take care of this. Xander, please just drop it."

"No. I am way past due with him," he said, squaring up with Spike, " I hate to break it to you, oh impotent one, but you're not the big bad anymore. You're not even the kind of naughty. You're nothing but a waste of space. My space! And as much as I always got a big laugh watching Buffy kick your shiny white bum, as much as I know I can give you a little bum-kicking myself right now, I'm here to tell you something You're not even worth it. I'm out of here."

Xander left and Spike was still silent. Without at word, he sat down on the couch, hands flying to his head. "He's right, isn't he?" he asked, sounding totally miserable.

"No, he's not. He was just mad and he's been bottling it up and it all just came out now. Honestly, don't take it to heart," I told him.

"I'm not worth it," Spike continued. "I never have been. I was never worth it for Dru. Hell, I wasn't ever even good enough for Angelus. Not even Harm. I just... I'm not worth... anything," he finished weakly.

I sat down next to him and wrapped him in my arms like a child. "No, you are worth it. You're so important and you don't even know it. If there wasn't a plan for you, Spike, you wouldn't be alive right now. If you weren't something special, you wouldn't have me. I promise, Spike. You are so special."

I knew he wasn't believing me. I sighed and held him tighter. When I saw Xander again, I was so going to smack that boy's head. I was about to say something else to Spike when the phone rang. I got up and answered it.

"Xander Harris'. King of the Jackasses of America. How canI help you?" I said sweetly. That earned me a half-hearted snort from the couch, but it was worth it.

"Rhuen? Uhm, it's Buffy. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, just got into a little spat, but we're good. What's up, Buff?"

"We have a lead about the earthquake. It seams like I was right. Something called a Vahrall demon is trying to open the Hellmouth in some sacrifice tonight. Every heard of them?"

"Vahrall? Yeah, nasty little things. Great fun to kill," I said.

"Well, it looks like you'll be having some fun, soon. Xander and Willow should be coming by in a bit. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye," I said before hanging up. I turned around and my heart almost stopped. "What the hell are you doing?" I screeched. The shrill sound of my terrified voice muse have startled Spike because his footing slipped from where he was standing on the couch and he fell down, missing his target, a stake that had been clamped to the coffee table.

Suicide attempt ruined, he face-planted into the floor, but he got up quickly. "Ending my useless unlife," he replied calmly.

I ran over to him and smacking him hard on the back of the head. "Ow," he yelped.

"Don't you ever do that again, you idiot! Why the hell would you kill yourself?"

Spike wouldn't look me in the eye. Instead, he found and interesting spot on the floor to stare at. "Figured you didn't want the responsibility of taking care of a useless, neutered vampire."

I felt my anger ebbing away and I found myself hugging him. "Spike, you can't just kill yourself. You're not useless."

Gently, he pulled me away and held me at arms length. "How useful am I? That destiny spew is bullocks, Rhuen. I might as well let you get on with your life."

Oh crap. Here it comes. I was going to have to tell him the one thing I never thought he'd have to know. I had never considered that Spike would contemplate suicide. I mean, he was always fond of himself.

"Spike, I have no life without you. Literally. If you kill yourself, I'd die, too. Guardian rules say so. If you kill yourself, it means I fail my mission."

He was stunned. For once, Spike had nothing to say. I have to admit, the silence scared me a little.

"Spike? Still undead and not breathing, there?"

Rage. I felt it coming through the empathy link before it registered on his face.

"Why the bleeding hell didn't you tell me!" he yelled.

"Oh, so the Big Bad cares about what happens to the waste of a Guardian Angel?"

He grabbed me forcefully and shook me a little, but what bothered me the most was the deadly whisper. "You are not a waste. Don't ever say you are. You are one of the best things that has happened to me."

I smiled. "So are you."

The surprisingly tender moment was interrupted by Xander and Willow coming in. "Hey," the witch greeted us. "We're headed to the museum to look over some stuff about the Valios thing. Wanna come?"

"Well, I was going to head over to see if Giles came up with anything new. I'm sure Spike would like to go with you, though," said, giving Spike a little push towards the scoobies. I gave Willow a pleading look and she caught on.

"Okay, that sounds... cool. Spike do you want to come?"

Spike was taken aback by the red head's kindness. "Yeah, sounds okay. I always knew you were a class act, Red," he complimented.

"Uh, do I get a vote in this?" Xander asked.

"No," Spike, Willow and I all said at the same time. We all looked at each other an laughed.

"Well, I'm going to head out, then. See you guys in a bit," I said, patting Spike on the shoulder before hopping out the door. It was night now, so I let my wings free. Flying, I made it to Giles' in less than five minuets.

I knocked and waited to be let in before entering. "Ah, Rhuen," the Watcher said as he sat down on his couch with a book. "I believe I have found something of interest regarding our new Vahrall friends."

He flipped through the book until he came across something about the Word of Valios. A picture showed it to be some kind of talisman.

"Is this of importance?" I asked, not understanding the meaning of the picture. "Oh – as usual – dear."

The Watcher mumbled random things as he got up. He went to his chest in the corner of the room and began to rummage through it. Eventually, he pulled a large box of necklaces out. Among them was the Word of Valios.

That's exactly the moment when three Vahrall demons broke down the door. We sprung into action. I knew that I was the only one of us with super strength, so I rushed them. Now, it had been a while since I'd come across this particular kind of demon, so I was a little out of practice.

I tried to push them back, but they had the numbers. I could hear Giles load a crossbow behind me, but that wasn't going to do the job. Vahrall have tough skin and with me in the front doing close combat, he wasn't going to get a shot off.

I knew it wasn't going to end well. The demons weren't going to stop until they got what they came for. These kind have unlimited stamina. Though angels can go on for a long time, the three of those guys were going to outlast me, and I knew it.

I took a deep breath and prepared to get cut up. I had to try to kill the things now, or we would lose. I put my wings to use and rammed them all at full flying speed I could get inside Giles' house. Claws and horns cut my skin open, but I ignored it. Outside the flat, I was in a full blown, nasty, savage fight to the death with three demons that were bigger than me.

"Rhuen!" Giles called to me from the doorway, crossbow in hand.

"Hide it! Hide the thing!" I yelled back just before one of the Vahralls could knock me over the head...

* * *

I woke up expecting the demons to be waiting for me. Though the Vahrall aren't the brightest bulbs in the box, they'll do what they have to do to get what they want. I tensed, not knowing if I was about to be interrogated or not. It wouldn't be the first time, but still, it was better to be in the right mindset if pain was coming your way.

Luckily, I didn't have to worry. Giles was squatted down next to me, ugly claw marks running across his face. "Are you alright?" he asked, british accent a bit slurred.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, trying to sit up. I had a nasty headache, but nothing serious. My fingers shot to my head where I could feel a nice sized bump forming. "They got it, didn't they?" I asked, knowing the answer by the look in his eyes.

"Yes, I was unable to hold them off. Are you sure you're okay, though?"

"Mhmm. Just help me inside before the neighbors ask why there's a girl with wings in your yard, okay?"

Giles helped me to my feet and used his arm to steady me when I swayed from my head injury. I Stumbled to a chair inside and sat down as he came in and sat on the couch.

"So," I said casually, "On a scale of one to we're-all-gonna-die, how screwed are we at the moment?"

"We are all going to die," Giles whispered.

"Peachy."

There was a long silence as we just rested. My wounds were healing slowly, so that was good, and Giles was still getting his breath back. I was just about to tell him to get his face checked when Buffy and Co. rushed in, Spike hot on their trail.

"What happened?" the Slayer asked, taking in mine and his beat up forms.

"It's my fault. I should have known," Giles accepted blame as Xander sat down next to him and Spike examined my head wound.

"Giles..." Buffy breathed.

"The Word of Valios is the name of a talisman, not a book. I blame myself entirely. I had it here." he explained.

"You had it here?" Xander asked. "Okay, first I thought you were being to hard on yourself, but..."

"He is being too hard on himself. It's not like I helped much anyway," I told them, trying to help Giles out.

"Didn't help?" Spike asked. "Looks like you got the stuffing knocked out of you. Both of you."

As if on cue, Willow brought Giles and I some wrapped ice which we took gratefully. Giles took his saying, "Oh, thank you. I bought it at a sorcerer's estate sale. I really only glanced at it once. I thought it was a knock off."

"Well, they have it. And they probably have their sacrifices by now, too," Buffy noted.

"They're on their way to perform the sacrifice now," Giles nodded.

"On their way where? You found out what the ritual is for?" the Slayer asked.

"The Hellmouth. They are going to open the Hellmouth. The one in the library."

"Looks like we're going back to high school." Buffy said darkly.

"Well, let's get going," I said, standing up, "Opening the Hellmouth sounds pretty bad to me."

"Uh-uh," Spike argued. "You should stay here with Rupes until the swelling goes down a bit."

"Spike, you function on a normal basis with a swollen head. I think I'll live through the night," I quipped.

"I just don't feel like doin' any rescuin' tonight if you need help."

"Oh, come on," I said indignantly. "I've saved your hide a billion times! You don't even know half of them!"

"And I've saved yours before, as well," he said curtly.

"Once," I allotted. It had been a long time ago and it was something we didn't speak of. I remembered it very well, but much of it was a painful memory.

"Yeah, well maybe tonight could be a repeat of then."

"I doubt it. Unless there are vampires involved, Either way, can we not talk about that? The fate of the world is in the balance and I think a little bump on the head is the least of my worries. I'm coming with you," I stated firmly.

Spike shrugged. "Suit yourself, sweet."

With that, we all, minus Giles, headed out towards the old burnt down high school. I guess that the demolished building had been were Willow, Xander and Buffy had all met. The place looked creepy, but we trudged on in.

"Be careful you guys, the place doesn't look to stable," Buffy warned. She then gave us her strategy. "Okay, when we get to the library keep a look out for victims they're keeping alive for the sacrifice. Getting them out is the first priority."

"Will do," Willow confirmed.

Buffy took a breath, ready to fight. I could feel it, too. That little rush of adrenaline you get when going into a fight. It gave me tingles. "Okay, you guys ready?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "Lets rock and roll."

Spike scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Lets rock and roll," he mocked.

We turned down a dark and burnt out hallway. "Sunnydale High," Xander narrated. "These walls, if they were still walls, what stories they could tell." Out of nowhere, he stepped on something that made a gushing sound. "Eww," he gasped. "Mayor meat. Extra crispy."

Willow slowed her place just a little. "I think we're near the library."

We came to a room were remnants of books and pages laid like corpses. It was a big room with a big hole in the floor, leading to the mouth of hell. In the distance, you could hear a deep rhythmic sound. Someone was chanting.

Through the dark with my heightened sight, I could make out the shape of the three Vahrall demons that had attacked Giles and me earlier. I smiled when I saw that one was still bleeding from where I'd clawed it with my fingers.

They stood around a huge hole in the floor, ready for something. I peered around, but I didn't see any of the people they were going to use for the sacrifices.

"Three of them," I told the rest of the group so we didn't have to talk when we got closer to them. "I don't see any sacrifice people."

Buffy shook her head in frustration. "They must be around here somewhere. The ritual isn't finished. And it's not gonna be." With that, she jumped into the fray and attacked the demons. One of the brutes dropped a bottle of what looked like blood. Xander scrambled to get it before any demon could grab it while Buffy and I held the demons off. It was a more level fight with even numbers this time.

"Get the talisman. They can't do the ritual," Xander told us, finally having a good idea.

Willow darted in and pried the sack of bones from a demon that I was working on. "I've got the bones!" she said before tossing them to Xander.

The third demon that didn't have mine or Buffy's attention went after Xander and the bag. In a split second choice, he passed the bag back to Willow. Xander was a surprisingly good fighter. He punched the demon over and over again, saying, "You've got the wrong man, dude. I've had a lot of practice with my lunch money."

Willow passed the bag on to Spike, who was sitting away from the fight, watching the fight. He caught it and eyed the bag in confusion. Then he saw the Vahrall demon coming his way. He rolled his blue eyes. "Right, perfect."

Buffy and I had our own demons while Spike was getting wailed on by the third. I could feel that he wasn't close to dying through our link, but he wasn't exactly happy about getting beat up, either. Buffy's ran at Xander, got the bottle of blood and then jumped down the hole.

It was then when I figured it out. "The demons are the sacrifice!" I told everyone.

Spike wasn't listening to a word I said, like that was something new. He had gotten fed up with getting beat on. In a rage of primal instinct, he hauled a fist back, let out a snarl and pounded the demon into the ground. I saw his hand flash to his head as if he was pain, but he wasn't.

Spike's eyes became huge as he released what this meant. "No pain!" he rejoiced. "I can hurt a demon!" With that, he vamped out and started beating the demon to a pulp. I swear, he was so happy, it was like a kid at Christmas. He paused a moment to take in the joy of the fight. "That's right. I'm back. And I'm a BLOODY ANIMAL! Yeah!"

He picked up the demon `over his head, not noticing that it had gotten it's bag of bones. We were all just a fraction of a second too late to figure out what he was doing.

"No!" Xander yelled first.

"Spike, not in the hole!" Willow cried.

Too late. Spike tossed him in the hole. When he noticed we were all pissed, he asked, "What? I was helping!"

"Spike," I hissed, "if you don't die during the apocalypse, I may kill you myself!"

The room began to tremor. "Get out of here! The building is going to come down!" Buffy called.

To prove her point, a beam fell from the ceiling and knocked Spike to the ground. Surprisingly, Xander was the first to go help him, followed quickly by Willow. "Buffy! Rhuen! You guys need to get out!" Willow called to us.

She knew we wouldn't. We had to save the world, no matter what. Spike was going to be okay and that's all that mattered when it came to me. I could die knowing that he's gonna be okay.

Buffy tried to stake the last demon, but that didn't work. I snacked the thing its huge head, making it back up. A fist was coming Buffy's way, but Riley, the boy from the other night, grabbed it from behind and started to pound on the Vahrall.

"Don't let it jump into the Hellmouth!" Buffy called to him.

The demon got the best of Riley and tossed him somewhere to the other side of the room. I had to give the boy credit. He was a tough dude. He got right back on up only to be knocked down again harder, unconscious.

Before any of us could move, the demon grabbed the talisman and jumped into the Hellmouth. My silver met her green and we both knew what had to happen. "I'm going," I said, diving into the hole, my wings coming out and curving towards my body.

I fell. It was long and dark and I was one his tail. I caught up to the demon and grabbed on to it's leg. He was beyond heavy, but I had to hold on. I had to, even if it tore my arms off. I pulled, and I let my wings out as far as I could, boosting us back up.

I was going to make it. I was going to get to the top. I was going to see daylight again and I sure as hell was going to smack Spike again. I wasn't going to let this be it for me.

Using the rest of my strength, I pulled myself up. Buffy's hand was there waiting for me. I clutched on to it like it was a lifeline in a stormy sea.

"Thanks," I said, breathing hard as I made it to the surface. I tossed the monster up and pulled in my wings just as Riley was waking up. I pulled myself to my feet and brushed the dirt off me. "C'mon. I don't wanna stay down here," I said, leaving the two behind me.

We met up with Xander, Willow and Spike, the latter strategically standing behind the other two.

"Well, hey!" Riley said just a little to brightly to be sincere. "Willow... and Xander, right? Jeez, what are the chances, huh?" He looked to Buffy as if asking for help, but she just averted her gaze, a smirk plastered on to her lips. "Yeah, I was just passing by when I thought I heard people inside," he lied.

"Passing by in your GI Joe outfit?" Willow smirked.

"No offence, but you do look wicked conspicuous," Buffy agreed. I nodded, backing her up.

"I do?" Riley asked. "But it's... Paintball! Yeah, I was playing paintball. And then the aftershocks..."

"So you're one of the commando guys, huh?" Xander asked.

Riley let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, no, no, no, no. Commando? No, I mean..." he trailed off, trying to find something else to talk about. That's when he noticed Spike. "Don't I know you?"

"No, I highly doubt it," I butted in. "Will and I just got into town. We're friends of Xander's and we were in town visiting."

"Oh. That's nice," Riley said. "And who are you?"

"I'm... Angelica. Angie for short," I said carefully. I wanted to make sure I didn't get caught in a lie. I wanted these people to know as little about Spike and me as possible. "Well, it was nice to meet you. Xander, Willow, Will, how about we go home and watch some TV? It's been a long night."

We left the school and said our goodbyes to the Slayer and Riley. It was late by the time we got back to Xander's house because we had to swing by the Wal-Mart to get Spike some clothes. While he changed, I informed Xander that Spike and I would be out of his hair by the next night.

We were all watching TV when Spike came out and stood in front of the screen. He was practically humming with energy, bouncing on the balls of his feet, finally back in his Big Bad garb. "What's this?" the vampire asked. "Sitting around watching the telly while there's evil still a foot. That's not very industrious of you. I say we go out there and kick a little demon ass! What, can't go without your Buffy, is that it? To chicken? Let's find her! She is the Chosen One after all. Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let's annihilate them. For justice and for... the safety of puppies... and Christmas, right? Let's fight that evil! Let's kill something!"

He paused a moment, seeing what we would do. When we just stared at him, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on!"

"Spike," I said sweetly. "It's late and we're not all nocturnal. Now sit down, shut up and stop acting stupid, okay?"

"It's an act?" Xander whispered in my ear.

"I heard that! Vampire hearing, you wanker."


	6. A New Man

**Even if Saving You Sends Me to Heaven**

**By wolfgal97**

**A New Man**

Not many people can say that they've been to a Vampire Slayer's birthday party. I, on the other hand, can. The night of Buffy's nineteenth birthday party, I and a group of her friends hid in a dark rec room, waiting until Willow brought her and Riley, her boyfriend, to the surprise party.

Light poured into the room as three figures filed into the room. I grinned as the light was switched on revealing Willow, Riley, and a Buffy in a battle stance. I could see the shock register in her green eyes as she released that this was her party.

"Surprise!" everyone but me screamed. I had never been to a surprise party, so I was still a little foggy on how they worked.

The blond quickly hid her stake behind her back as a blush settled on her cheeks. Willow, Xander, Anya, Giles and I were all in the same general area. Us being her group of best friends, she looked towards us first.

Willow was beaming, pleased her plan worked out so well. "Guess you won't be killing anything tonight, after all," she said to her friend.

Buffy gave her a wolfish grin. "Don't be so sure."

With that, Buffy addressed the rest of the room. She thanked everyone and then everyone broke up to mini conversations. I didn't really know anyone, not being a college student, so I stuck to the Scooby group.

Giles, Xander and Anya were with me. We were just kinda standing awkwardly while Giles and I munched on cake.

"Yeah, this is a lively space. It's like the activity room we had at public school," Giles says to start some conversation."

"I'm bored," Anya informed Xander. "Let's eat."

"Anya, we've talked about this," Xander chided softly.

Anya frowned and turned to Giles. "I'm sorry, that was rude. Please continue your story. Hopefully it involves treacle and a headmaster."

Giles sighed. "Go and eat."

Anya beamed and pulled Xander with her, the boy shooting Giles an apologetic look before running off with his girlfriend. Giles sighed and sunk into a chair away from everyone. I came and sat down next to him.  
"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes, I am fine. I just must be... tired."

"Mhmm," I said skeptically. I was going to press more, but Willow decided to join us them. She brought him another piece of cake.

"Giles! Hi. Are you having a good time?" the witch asked.

" . There's, uh, a lot of new faces here, aren't there?"

"Yeah. Mostly kids from the dorm. A couple of Riley's friends," Willow agreed.

"All I see are a bunch of dumb college boys. Oh, wait! Speak of the commando devil..."

Buffy and Riley looking all lovey-dovey. For a moment, I almost felt jealous. I knew that I wouldn't ever get a chance to go on a date, have a boyfriend, fall in love... I mean, I almost never think about it, but those rare times I did always stung a bit.

Buffy chirped a happy, "Hi, Giles."

"Buffy! Happy Birthday," the brit wished.

Buffy hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered lovingly.

"Nineteen. It's hard to believe, isn't it?" he smiled fondly.

"There's somebody here I want you to meet," Buffy grinned, pulling a strong, dark-haired boy from behind her. "Uh, this is Riley Finn... my boyfriend," she introduced.

Riley offered a pleasant white grin. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Giles. Did you help plan this? It was quite a surprise."

"The first of many. Uh, been . . . dating long?" Giles asked awkwardly.

"Giles was the librarian at my high school," Buffy told her boyfriend.

"Ah, I've seen the library. It's gone down hill since you left," Riley said.

Giles gave a soft laughter. "Yes. I-I-I'm embarrassed to say that I actually miss it at times."

"So, you're retired?"

Giles frowned a little at that. "I'm sorry?"

"Or... you're working somewhere else now?"

"Well, not, uh... sort of between projects, uh, right now, uh, it's a personal-"

"Oh! Oh, look. Giles has no cake," Buffy pointed out.

"Oh, here. Here, I'll get you a piece," Riley offered sweetly. He turned immediately and made a beeline for the refreshment table.

Buffy frowned, trying to ease the tension. "Oh, he's just nervous. But this is so nice. Having everyone together for my birthday. Of course, you could smash in all my toes with a hammer and it will still be the bestest Buffy Birthday Bash in a big long while."

"Why's that?" I asked.

Buffy laughed. "I'm the Slayer all year round. Demons don't forget on my birthday."

"A-a-actually, Willow a-a-and Xander did all the planning. I'm not sure I would have gone with the surprise party. You know, you have enough things jumping out at you in the dark."

"Professor Walsh says that adrenaline is like exercise but without the exorbitant gym fees," Buffy said proudly.

Giles looked taken aback. "Very whitty."

"You should meet her! She's absolutely the smartest person I've ever met."

"Perhaps we should have invited Professor Walsh to the party?" Giles said slowly.

"Oh, no. I mean, she's like forty. She's got better things to do than hang out with a bunch of kids," Buffy laughed.

See didn't see it, but I did. Giles clearly felt upset by hear words. It was then that Riley showed up with the cake and passed it to the man with a polite, "Here you go, sir."

Sadness was hidden behind the man's eyes. Something was bothering him. "Giles," I said, "It's getting late. Why don't we head out?"

"Yes, yes. Good idea," the Watcher agreed, putting away the rest of his cake and following me out of the party. I walked with him to his car, but leaned on his door so he couldn't get away.

"Okay, spill," I demanded.

"I-I don't know what you're on about."  
"Don't you lie to me," I said firmly. "Something was bothering you in there. You're going to tell me or I'm going home with you to drive you crazy there."

He sighed and cleaned his glasses. "Alright. I just feel a bit... well, useless. I'm older than anyone that I spend my time with and I just feel... unneeded."

I frowned. "Giles, Buffy and all of the Scoobies love you. You can just see it. I mean, you guys have been working together for years. You're a family. Personally, I'm jealous of you in that respect. I don't have anyone."

"But you and Spike seem so... close."

I shrugged. "There are days. I've always been his best friend, yes... but I've never had a family."

"Oh, well, I suppose you're one of us, now," the man tried to comfort.

I couldn't help but smile. "Really? Even though I come packaged with the most annoying vampire ever?"

He laughed and I allowed him to get in his car. "Yes, Rhuen. Even if. You're a very good friend. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Giles," I called before whipping my wings out and heading to the Harris home. I went through the back door to the basement to find a bleached blond looking around the room for something to toss in his mostly empty bag.

Xander and Anya watched, one with contempt and the other with curiosity.

"You own nothing," Xander snapped impatiently. "This shouldn't be taking so long."

"Hang on. Let a fella get organized," Spike argued around the cigaret in his mouth. The vampire wandered around the room a bit longer before spotting a radio and picking it up.

Xander wasn't having that. "That's my radio!"

"And you're what?" Spike asked sarcastically, "Shocked and disappointed? I'm evil!"

"Rhuen! Make your pet vampire behave and put my things back!"

I skillfully ignored him and let Anya take control of the conversation.

"So, what kind of place are you looking for?" she asked.

"I don't know. Maybe a crypt. Some place, you know, dark and dank. But not as dark and dank as this."

"Heh. It's pretty depressing, isn't it?" she agreed.

"I've known corpses with a fresher smell. In fact, I've been one," Spike snarked while flicking his cigaret away.

"That's it! Let's go," Xander hissed. He marched towards Spike like he was going to toss him out, but I got in the middle.

"Simmer down, tater-tot. We'll be gone soon enough," I informed him.

"Wait," Anya called before plucking the cord from a wall that connected to a lamp. She them brought it over to Spike. "I want to give you something for your new place."

"That's my lamp," Xander said shrilly. He snatched it away from her like a child and returned it to where it was.

"A gift is traditional," Anya said knowingly. "I've read about it."

"That's among friends. With bitter enemies we don't give them my lamp," Xander retorted.

Spike smirked, secretly touched by the ex demon's attempt at kindness. "It's not gonna have electricity anyway. It's a crypt, remember?"

"Well, we're going to have to fix it it up," I said. "I mean, you'll need at least a fridge and running water. And if you don't have a TV, you'll drive me nuts."

"You've got a point," Spike agreed.

"So, you're moving in with him?" Anya asked. "Sounds like a great opportunity," she whispered to me.

"Maybe," I said. "I have another place if needed."

"Although you're more than welcome to hang up your halo with me. More welcome than the pillock over there," Spike offered, flicking a hand lazily at Xander.

"Out!" Xander growled. "Before I get the Slayer over here to kick you out!"

Spike rolled his eyes and pulled on his duster. "Don't know why she didn't come. Say good-bye, shed a few tears."

For some reason, this statement bothered me. Probably because I knew a little of the fake disappointment that rang in Spike's words had some truth to them. Deep down, I knew he and the Slayer had some odd connection. One that would one day be explored. How much so, I didn't know yet. All I knew was that their destinies were intwined.

"Well, she has an appointment with somebody who's actually still scary!" Xander said, dragging me from the thoughts.

I was getting tired of all the verbal abuse Spike was going through. With a nasty glare for Xander, I zipped up Spike's bag and pulled the vampire out with me, spitting out a short, "See you later, Anyanka."

I slammed the door behind me as I dragged my vampire by the sleeve of into the night. We were a few steps out when he sputtered, "Uh, Rhuen, you can let go now."

I blushed, embarrassed by my temper. "Sorry, Spike," I said, letting go of his prized duster.

"S'alright, pet. Now, why don't we check out some crypts?"

I nodded and we headed off, walking towards the nearest cemetery. The silence was comfortable, but Spike had something on his mind.

"You know, maybe we should find somewhere a bit more... I don't know... posh? I mean, how many angels live in crypts?"

"Well, actually, a few Guardians will stay with the bodies of their charges for a few days after they die. Some will just form a bond with them that can't easily be broken."

"But only a few people know about their angels, right?"

"Exactly. It's hard when emotions are one-sided. Still, they happen sometimes."

"I wonder if you'd stick around a few days if I bit it. No pun intended, of course."

I rolled my eyes. "I guess I'm lucky that I won't ever know. You're the only vampire with a Guardian, Spike. Our partnership should be ended before you dust."

We strolled through the path of tombstones and crypts looking around for anything that caught our eye that could be used for a home for Spike. I saw something a little off the path and tapped his shoulder before heading towards it.

A looming crypt that was heavily decorated with stone carvings was shown in the pale beams of moonlight. Something in me just knew that this was going to be it. It had character for a resting place of a dead person.

Spike followed behind me and stopped by my side, hands fixed to his hips. His dark eyebrow quirked. "Not bad, pet. Not bad at all."

"Why don't we peek inside before we decide, hmm?" I smiled and headed to the door. They opened nicely, without a squeak, even. The inside looked... well, just like you'd picture a crypt to look like. It was stone and iron, cobwebs galore.

I looked around. It was big. Very spacious, indeed. A large stone bier stood solidly by a stain glass window. The floor had a thick layer of dirt caking it, but all in all, nothing a broom couldn't take care of.

"Isn't this place a little familiar?" I asked. I knew I'd been here before, but it just wasn't ringing a bell with me.

"Yeah, we were here the other day," Spike confirmed. His hand dug around in his pocket for something until he fished out his zippo lighter and cigarets. He lit one up and took a drag. "Back when Red hexed the Slayer and me."

Ah, yes. Last time we had been here, Buffy and Spike had been busy snogging. I quirked an eyebrow at him. "So... I'm surprised that you remember what the room looked like. You were a little... busy... the last time we were here."

His blue eyes rolled. "Please don't even bring that horror story up, Rhuen. Just thinking about it..." he shivered. "Terrible."

I was oh so tempted to open our link and see what he was feeling. I think I would've, too, if he hadn't been able to feel me do it. Still, it would be wrong to invade his privacy over something so unimportant. I mean, it's not like he had feelings for the Slayer or anything.

"So, do you wanna keep house hunting or is this your new home?" I asked, strategically changing the subject.

"Past experience excluded, I like it here. It's posh for a crypt and with a little homey touches, it'd be fine."

I nodded. "Okay, here's what we'll do. You run out and legally get a few things to clean up with. Wipes, broom, pan, fabreeze, and anything else you want. I'll go see about getting some furniture. Sound good?"

"Other than the 'legally' part, yeah. Sounds fine."

"Spike, I mean it. Legally. Okay?"

He flicked away his spent cigaret and bobbed his head yes while turning on his heel and heading out. I sighed. That hard headed vampire was going to cause me a lot of trouble.

An hour later and a trip to the thrift shop behind me, I had lugged back a coffee table, two recliners, a few candles and a beat up TV and refrigerator. I went to my bank and got some money out of my account. I managed to buy a power box I could plug the TV and fridge into.

By the time I had all that set up, Spike was getting back from the store. His jaw about dropped when he saw all my work. "Rhuen, how did you manage-"

"It looks better now. It needs a sweep and a dust over, but I think you can manage that."

Spike was silent, a scary first. I watched as he explored the room, opening the fridge to find blood stored there. "What, no liquor?"

I gave him a dirty look. "You know I won't support the drinking or the smoking. You want that stuff, you'll go get yourself. I got you started on the blood. That's all."

He shrugged before flipping on the TV somewhat surprised that it worked. "Why'd you get a telly in here?"

"I knew you'd drive me crazy if you couldn't watch Passions."

He grinned. "I would've, wouldn't I?" He switched the TV off and flopped into one of the recliners. "Comfy," he said wistfully.

"Glad you like it," I smiled. "Okay, well you have a good night. I'm headed out."

He frowned and followed me to the door. "And where do you think you're going?"

I took a deep breath to answer him when something both stopped us in our tracks. A Fyarl demon with a blanket wrapped around it's massive body lumbered around the cemetery. It looked miserable, which was odd to me. Fyarl don't usually have a wide range of emotions and they don't carry blankets.

Spike grinned and fell into a predatory strut behind the demon. "Well. What do I spy with my little eye?" The demon stopped walking, it's back still to us. "A demon. That would be... oh, right... the things I can kill," Spike growled hungrily.

"Spike?" I said. "I don't-"

"Spike. Wonderful. A perfect end to a perfect day," the demon said in a familiar british accent, prominent enough to come though the demon language.

Spike's face fell. "Giles?" he asked.

As if he didn't hear us, the demon turned around, fists up in a very human way. "Go on, then. Let's get on with the fighting-" he paused. "You understand me?"

"Of course I understand you," Spike said. I nodded as well. I had learned many different languages over the years. Fyarl was one of them.

The demon- Giles?- paused. "I'm speaking English?"

"No, you're speaking Fyarl.," Spike explained. "I happen to speak Fyarl. And... by the way, why the hell are you suddenly a Fyarl demon? You just come over all demony this morning?"

Spike took a step backed, a little wigged out. He pulled his cigarets out and lit one up. His eyes stayed on Giles, trying to come to terms with what was going on.

Giles shook his giant head. "As a matter of fact, I did. Thanks to Ethan Rayne. You have to help me find him. He must undo this and then he needs a... good being killed."

Spike snorted. "And I'm just supposed to help you out of the evilness of my heart?"

"Spike! We're going to help him," I said.

"Why should I? He's a git to me," Spike growled. "And I don't like him."

"Money. I could pay you money," Giles bribed.

Spike's eyebrow raised. He carelessly tossed the stub of his smokes. "Oh, I like money. How much?"

"A h-hundred dollars," Giles stuttered.

"A hundred dollars? You'll have to do a lot better than that. Two-hundred."

"Spike!" I hissed, trying to get him to behave. I elbowed him, annoyed.

"Fine," Giles agreed.

"Right, then," Spike agreed, seeming startled.

"Right, then," the other brit confirmed.

"So what's first? I run and tell the Slayer what you've gotten yourself into?" the vampire chuckled.

"No," Giles snapped. "When I find Ethan I can clear all this up without Buffy ever having to find out that anything happened to me at all."

"So who's this Ethan person?" I asked.

* * *

Ethan used to be a friend of Giles'. That is, until they had a scuff over some demon drugs back in the say and became bitter enemies. So now, they had gotten into their most recent scuffle.

And here I sat with a Fyarl demon and a vampire in the back seat of a really really old tin can on wheels called and Citroen. The vehicle gave out a nasty sound.

"If you can't find third gear, don't try for third gear!" Giles said from shotgun.

"I'm doing my best. I don't know if I'm driving this thing or wearing it," Spike hissed back.

"It's perfectly serviceable."

Spike laughed. "Funny hearing a Fyarl demon say "serviceable." Had a couple of them working for me once. They're more like "Like to crush. Crush now?" Strong though. You won't meet a jar you can't open for the rest of your life."

A low sound of a growl emitted from the passenger seat. I gave Giles a wide eye'd look. "What was that? Did you growl?"

"No. Listen, about this Fyarl demon. Do-do I have special powers? Like setting things on fire with my sizzling eye beams?"

"Well, you got the mucous thing," Spike sighed.

"What? Mucous?" Giles asked, puzzled.

"Paralyzing mucous. Shoots out through the nose. Sets on fast. Hard as a rock. Pretty good in a fight."

"Are you making this up?"

A sly grin set on the vampire's face. "Maybe."

"He actually isn't," I confirmed.

"But hey, you feel a sneeze coming on, you warn me," Spike ordered.

"Turn here," Giles directed, slamming his arm against the door for emphasis. Spike jerked the wheel left and I fell back in the seat, cursing them both.

"Down shift! Down shift!" Giles screeched.

"Calm down, will you?" Spike spat back.

"I'm not sure I can," Giles admitted. "I feel like I'm changing."

"Fine with me. So long as you pay me. Rhuen, love, you alrigh' back there?"

"Peachy," I glared.

Giles examined his claws. "I really like this feeling. Sort of mindless need to destroy. This anger and rage."

"Good times. Go with it," Spike encouraged. I kicked the back of his seat, telling him to shut up.

"No," Giles refused.

"Oh, it's fun," Spike ranted. "I can't do it, do it for me. Now let yourself go."

Giles refused to look at us. His eyes watched the people and cars outside his window. "I refuse to become a monster because I look like a monster. I have a soul. I have a conscience. I am a human being. Oh, stop the car!" he shouted.

Spike hit the breaks, jerking me again. Giles scrambled out of the car and creeped up on some woman. He clawed the air behind her and roared like a terrible beast.

The woman let out a mighty scream and then took off running in her little heels. Giles chased her a few yards before turning back to the car and hopping back in. "Right. Let's go, then."

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"Oh, that? Nothing. Just a bit of fun."

Spike grinned. "I knew you had some fun in you, ol' Rupes!"

I rolled my eyes. Boys would be boys, demon or human. "So what exactly are we doing?"

"Ethan and I were at a bar last night. He gave the waitress his number. We'll head there and get it from her."

I snorted. "If she kept it. I wouldn't have. Guys are creeps."

Both males turned around to give me a sharp look.

"So how long until we get there?" I changed the subject.

I didn't need to ask because Spike had just pulled into a parking lot.

"We're here, ducks. Will you be joining me?"

I shrugged, climbing out. "I could stretch my legs. I don't like cars. Too crowded. Next time, I'll just fly over you."

"I'm coming in as well," Giles said, starting to get out.

"Not looking like that, you're not," I disagreed.

"How will you know which waitress it was if I don't?"

I sighed and grabbed onto his wrist, connecting myself to him. Then, I pushed my way into his mind. It was foggy and animal instincts circled around in a haze at the forefront, but the image of a woman with dark hair and chocolate eyes came to me. Excused from using angel magic, I pulled out of his mind.

"I got it," I said. Spike grinned at Giles' confused face as I followed him inside. I felt a little dizzy, but not bad enough that I had to worry. Spike and I headed to the bar, him following my lead to where the woman worked, cleaning the counter.

We sat down in front of her, making our presence known. She eyed us, sighed, and pulled out a pad. "What'll you have?" she asked.

"A shot of anything for me and... Rhuen? You want anything?"

I shook my head. I wasn't a drinker. "Pass."

"One shot it is," the lady said. She got Spike his order while he talked.

"So, I was looking for someone. I heard they were here the other night," he said as she sat his drink in front of him.

"You'll have to do better than that," she said dryly.

Spike threw back his shot like it was nothing.

"Two of them. English like me. But older, less attractive. One of them gave you his number," Spike drawled.  
"I threw it out. I mean, I took one look and saw that he was staying at that rat trap. No thanks."

"Which rat trap?" I quizzed.

"The one by the highway. The Sunnydale Motor Inn."

Spike gave her his smile. That flirty one that met his eyes in a warm way. "Thank you." He handed her enough to cover the bill and a nice little tip before getting up to leave.

The woman watched him walk out before looking to me. "Now his number? I'd take that."

I shook my head. Humans were too easily infatuated. "Yeah, you'd hate his place. It's a bit dead," I told her before following my vampire out.

Spike was already in the car filling Giles in when I jumped in the back seat. "So off to the Motor Inn?" I asked.

Giles nodded. "Yes. Right. Off we go."

Spike turned the car on and pulled out of the lot. We were just down the road when a low rumbling sound came from Giles.

"How ya feeling, mate?" Spike asked. He sounded aloof, but under it, I could hear a note of concern.

Giles voice came out with a growl. "Like snapping necks until everyone is dead."

"Now that sounds like a Fyarl demon. Good for you," Spike congratulated.

Spike, stop. Okay? You're driving me nutty."

"Sorry, pet," he said, checking something out intently in the mirror. I turned around to see what was going on when a pair of bright headlights glared into my eyes. I turned around fast, my vision slightly impaired.

"Hey, picked up a tail," Spike informed us.

"Yes. Just a little one. It hurts when I sit," Giles said cluelessly.

"I mean someone is following us. Humvee. Military," Spike explained.

"Well speed up. Lose them," Giles said, a note of panic in his tone. Both of them were freaked out. Giles' heartbeat pounded in my head. I could feel total fear coming from Spike through out link.

"I've got it floored. Why'd you buy this car?" he snarked, masking his fear.

"Well do something. If they catch us, we'll both end up in a lab!"

"It's getting closer," I warned them.

Suddenly, another car came out of nowhere, right on top of us.

"And it's got a friend!"

"Damn!" Giles cussed. In an act of frustration, he slammed his arm against the door, resulting in the window shattering.

"Oh, sure! Dismantle the getaway car. That'll scare them," Spike said sarcastically.

"Then slow down and I'll jump out. They'll follow you."

Spike glared his way. "Hold on. These commandos. They're the same guys that are after me too.. Maybe I want you around to split their attention a bit?"

"I'll pay you another hundred dollars."

"You've got a deal. Rhuen, you get out, too. I'll take care of them."

"Spike, there is no way in hell I'm leaving this car without you so shut up," I informed him.

"Yeah, I thought that's what you were going to say."

He brought the car around the corner and Giles lept out. He rolled safely away from the road and Spike and I sped off. I climbed up in the front seat next to Spike.

"How are we going to lose them?" I asked. I hated cars and had no idea how this was going to work.

"I'm going to drive," Spike said. "Now would be a good time to pray. I'm sure yours are heard pretty well."

Spike made a sharp turn and fishtailed around the corner, making the font humvee lose control and spin out. The one behind it hand to stop to not hit.

Spike grinned, loving the thrill. "Just you just try and stop me, you stupid jar-"

Bam! Spike ran into a freaking wall.

"Smooth move, blood breath!"

We staggered out of the car, a little disoriented. Spike looked around at the heap of metal. "I can kill demons. I can crash cars... Things are looking up!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I snapped. "We need to get out of here. They're coming."

Spike nodded and we took off at a full run. Running right into gunfire. "Spike, get out of here. I'll hold them off!"

"No! I won't leave you!" he roared, his face vamping out.

"You can't fight them. The chip! Just go! I'll take care of it. I'll meet you at the crypt!" I said, shoving him away and running at the commandoes. A bullet clipped my arm. Another struck me in the leg.

My wings whipped out, instant protection from their weapons. I felt my nails elongate, steel weapons perfect for slashing.

I tore into them, destroying their weapons and beating them senseless to the point of unconsciousness. When they all laid on the ground, I whipped the sweat from my head and limped off, taking to the air.

By the time I'd flown to the crypt, the bullets had already been pushed out and the flesh had mended. Blood stained my skin and clothes, but I didn't care.

I crashed to the ground, rolling. I was exhausted to the point of falling out of the sky. I stumbled into the tomb, bracing myself on the door. Spike was inside, pacing, smoking.

He dropped it when he saw me and rushed over to my side. I was falling to the ground when cool, strong arms found me. They pulled me close and Spike was holding me.

"Oh, Rhuen. What happened?"

"I took care of them. I'm-I'm fine. I just need... need to rest," I mumbled.

"And rest you'll get," he said, laying me gently into a recliner and setting it back so I could lay.


End file.
